Gallup: Americans less sure a diplomatic solution can be reached with North Korea than in past years

NewsWorks Tonight host Dave Heller sits down for his weekly conversation with Gallup’s Frank Newport to talk about trends in U.S. opinion.

President Donald Trump has been decidedly more bipartisan in recent weeks. One thing is clear — any type of bipartisan cooperation is exactly what the American public wants to see in Washington.

Meanwhile, we don’t detect any improvement in Americans’ views of Congress. Approval this month stays at 16 percent, and we also don’t detect much movement in how Republicans and Democrats feel about Congress. Republicans’ approval is at 18 percent — very low considering the GOP’s control of both houses of Congress — while Democrats’ approval is right at the average, 16 percent.

Compared to 14 years ago when Gallup first asked questions about North Korea, Americans are less positive that a diplomatic solution can be reached, and more likely (a majority now) to sanction military action against North Korea if diplomatic efforts and economic sanctions don’t work.

Despite low unemployment and near record high stock market values, just a quarter of Americans say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. today.

Republicans are satisfied at 41 percent, but still below a majority, and only 13 percent of Democrats are satisfied.

Interestingly, Americans have a record high positive image of the auto industry — the best image since we have been tracking it for 17 years.