Most Americans Describe Trump as 'Prejudiced' and 'Selfish,' Poll Says

While it's clear that America is still bitterly divided on Donald Trump's presidency, a new poll has managed to pinpoint some things most Americans agree on when it comes to our commander-in-chief—for example, a clear majority say "prejudiced" and selfish" describe him well.

The Pew Research poll phoned 1,893 American voters of all political persuasions, asking them what they thought about Trump's behavior in office and where they agreed and disagreed with him on policy. That poll works in tandem with a separate online poll, which asked 4,971 Americans what they liked and disliked about the president in their own words, to offer insight into why Trump's approval numbers have been so consistently low, and highlight the interesting places where Republicans, Democrats, and Independents all agree.

A big problem for the president is his conduct: A majority of respondents said the traits "selfish" (65 percent) and "prejudiced" (55 percent) describe him very or somewhat well. Meanwhile, just 26 percent of Americans would describe Trump as "even tempered," and 37 percent would describe him as "honest"—while a majority of Americans say they wouldn't paint him in those terms. Pew conducted the poll from August 15 to August 21, just as Trump reiterated that there was "blame on both sides" for the violence that rocked Charlottesville, Virginia.

Of course, there's a split among left- and right-leaning respondents in the poll—Trump obviously has broader support from Republicans than Democrats. Still, just 34 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they like the way the president conducts himself, and 31 percent said they agree with Trump on all or nearly all the issues.

Overall, 63 percent of the country disapproves of how Trump has handled the job. Most Americans said they're not confident in Trump's ability to deal with nuclear weapons (58 percent) or immigration (59 percent) at a time when North Korea has just launched a ballistic missile over Japan and Trump has threatened to shut down the government if he can't build a border wall. A slight majority of Americans—52 percent—think Trump is "not tough enough" on dealing with Russia, an issue that's plagued his presidency since he took office.

Stepping away from partisan policies, the polls shed some interesting (if unsurprising) light on how different demographics feel about the president. About half of men (53 percent) and whites (51 percent) said they don't like the way Trump conducts himself. Compare that to 62 percent of women, 70 percent of Hispanics, and 81 percent of blacks who said the same. One has to wonder why that might be.

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