A new Gallup survey shows that only 44 percent of Americans think President-elect Trump can prevent major scandals in his administration. This isn’t normal. By contrast, 74 percent said the same about then-President-elect Obama just before he took office and 77 percent about then-President-elect George W. Bush.
Americans have dramatically less confidence in Trump than they had when Obama, Bush and President Clinton were about to take office. Five poll questions showed this pattern.
People were much more confident in Obama, Bush and Clinton’s abilities to:
- Handle an international crisis
- Use military force wisely
- Manage the executive branch effectively
- Defend interests abroad
- Work effectively with Congress.
On all those questions Trump’s trailed Obama, Bush and Clinton by double digits.
What does all this mean for Trump? The lack of confidence means he faces an uphill battle that no recent president has faced. While others took office with a mandate for their agenda and high confidence from the public, Trump gets no such luxury. He’ll have to earn that confidence by showing he can be presidential and get reforms done.
As for the scandals, perhaps the low expectations will help him: The public won’t be shocked by any Trump administration scandals, and any problems would just bounce off of him.
Republicans are most confident (90 percent) in Trump’s ability to handle the economy effectively and least confident (77 percent) in his ability to prevent major scandals. Democrats are most confident (35 percent) in Trump’s ability to work effectively with Congress and least confident in his ability to prevent major scandals (14 percent).
About 59 percent said they were confident Trump would handle the economy effectively, a question Gallup hadn’t asked about other presidents-elect.
Jason Russell is the contributors editor for the Washington Examiner.
