It's now been several days since Trump met in secret with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, and both the American public and the U.S. government (and military) still has no idea what went on in the meeting. What we do know is that Trump was fawning all over Putin in the press conference that followed it. And he made it clear that he prefers the company and friendship of the Russian dictator to that of any of our best allies. It was an embarrassing and frightening spectacle to behold.
What did most Americans think about Trump's performance in Helsinki? They didn't like it. Two polls have now been released about the Helsinki meeting. In the first, 55% of adults, 83% of Democrats, and 53% of Independents said they disapproved of how Trump handled himself in Helsinki. In the second, 58% of adults, 91% of Democrats, and 62% of Independents disapproved.
There was only one group that approved of Trump's performance in Helsinki -- Republicans. In the first poll 68% approved, and in the second poll 79% approved. That makes me wonder if there's ANYTHING Trump could do that the Republican base would not approve of.
The CBS News Poll was done on July 17th and 18th of a national sample of 1,007 adults, and has a 4 point margin of error.
The Axios / SurveyMonkey Poll was done on July 16th and 17th of a national sample of 2,100 adults, and has a 3 point margin of error.
