A new poll shows that a strong majority of Americans oppose Donald Trump’s recent executive order that bans refugees and Muslims from seven countries from entering the United States.
According to Gallup, 55 percent oppose Trump’s “temporary ban on entry into U.S. for most people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.” Only 42 percent support the policy.
The survey also shows disapproval of the president’s suspension of the Syrian refugee program even higher, with 58 percent of Americans saying they don’t support it, likely due to the fact that “extreme vetting” already exists and Syrian refugees admitted to the U.S. are most commonly vulnerable women and children.
On his other executive action to start the process of constructing a wall along the southern border, Trump again fails to attract the support of a majority of Americans. Only 38 percent support the idea, while 60 percent oppose it.
The numbers:
These executive actions may align with Trump’s controversial rhetoric from the campaign, but it appears the voters – a majority of which voted for Hillary Clinton last fall – are not at all impressed. Instead, opposition to the president only seems to be growing.
While Trump was able to get 46 percent of the total national popular vote last November, his approval rating in the poll stands at a historically dismal 43 percent. To put things in perspective, George W. Bush’s approval rating in 2005, just after Hurricane Katrina, stood at 42 percent – an all-time low for Bush at that point in his presidency.
There hasn’t yet been a natural disaster like Katrina during his young presidency, but Trump’s insistence on pursuing unpopular and reckless policies have driven his numbers into the ground in two short weeks.
