Poll: Americans see Trump as intelligent and strong, but not honest, likable, or admirable

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

Polling shows that – not surprisingly – that the majority of Americans are opposed to the policy that would take children from their parents at the border. This level of public opinion no doubt was part of the reason Trump changed his mind and issued an executive order to keep from separating children and parents.

Americans — according to new Gallup polling and existing polling — are opposed to expanding the southern border wall. The current wording is less draconian … just says “expanding walls along the border,” and we still get almost six in 10 opposed. This has been consistent. Huge majorities of Americans, on the other hand, support doing something about Dreamers. This too has been consistent over time. Banning “sanctuary cities” however, about breaks even in the court of public opinion. There’s no strong sentiment against the idea of eliminating sanctuary cities, a policy advocated by the administration.

A new Gallup update on the characteristics that Americans associate with Trump shows the overall impression that the public does in fact have differentiated views of Trump’s strengths and weaknesses. Americans give Trump credit for being intelligent, strong, and able to bring about changes. On the other hand, he gets low marks for a series of personal characteristics — honest, likable, someone you admire — and for choosing good advisors and being able to work with people in Washington.

Views of Trump on the other characteristics are about the same as his overall job approval rating.