--- title: Donald Trump: Most Americans Don't Think He Can Handle Job description: Americans have little confidence in President-elect Donald Trump's abilities to handle his presidential duties, a new poll found canonical: https://time.com/4620230/donald-trump-gallup-poll-president/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-02T18:19:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T07:12:12.294Z article:section: Politics og:title: Most Americans Don't Think Donald Trump Can Handle Being President og:description: According to a Gallup poll og:url: https://time.com/4620230/donald-trump-gallup-poll-president/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bc368a4a5e663c8/6988b43a2dce0135f99ebd22/gettyimages-630638446.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2466 og:image:height: 1387 og:image:alt: President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago Club og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Most Americans Don't Think Donald Trump Can Handle Being President twitter:description: According to a Gallup poll twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bc368a4a5e663c8/6988b43a2dce0135f99ebd22/gettyimages-630638446.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Poll: Most Americans Don't Think Donald Trump Can Handle Being President > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a267fbb2-8868-4855-b445-df458dd37b6e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Q0tBuF3M.m3u8) (4:12)  _Published 2016-12-07. The 2016 Person of the Year is Donald Trump, the President of the divided states of America._  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 2, 2017 6:19 PM UTC  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 2, 2017 6:19 PM UTC Americans have [little confidence](http://www.gallup.com/poll/201158/skeptical-trump-handle-presidential-duties.aspx?g%5Fsource=Politics&g%5Fmedium=lead&g%5Fcampaign=tiles) in President-elect [Donald Trump’s](http://time.com/4618844/donald-trump-barack-obama-israel/) abilities to handle his presidential duties, with less than half of Americans saying they trust him to prevent major scandals, handle an international crisis, or use military force responsibly. [According to a Gallup poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/201158/skeptical-trump-handle-presidential-duties.aspx?g%5Fsource=Politics&g%5Fmedium=lead&g%5Fcampaign=tiles) released Monday, Americans have significantly less faith in [Trump](http://time.com/4619941/donald-trump-new-years-eve-tweet/) than they had in his predecessors. Only 44% said they are confident Trump will avoid major scandals in his Administration, 46% said they are confident in Trump’s ability to handle an international crisis, and 47% said they trust him to use military force wisely. When the same questions were asked at the start of Barack Obama’s, George W. Bush’s and Bill Clinton’s terms, roughly three-quarters of Americans said they had confidence in the newly elected President in these areas. When compared with Gallup’s averages of confidence polling in his predecessors, Trump comes up short: he has a 32-point confidence deficit in his ability to avoid scandals in his Administration, a 29-point deficit in his ability to use military force well and a 28-point deficit in his ability to manage the Executive Branch. Most Americans (60%) believe Trump will be able to get things done with Congress, but even there he comes up far behind his predecessors — the average number of Americans with confidence in Obama, Bush and Clinton to work with Congress was 82%. The data also reflects a more polarized America than Obama or Bush faced when they came into office. On average, only 21% of Democrats have confidence in Trump’s ability to handle the various responsibilities of the presidency. By contrast, roughly two-thirds of Republicans had some confidence in Obama and the same was true for Bush and Democrats. But Trump even has a confidence deficit among members of his own party: only 84% of Republicans have confidence in his abilities as President, compared with 94% of Democrats who trusted Obama and 95% of Republicans who had faith in Bush. The poll’s sample included 1,028 adults and had a margin of error of +/- 4%. ## Transcript MUSIC ] Every year we choose the Person of the Year who is the individual who has had the most influence on events for better or worse. The Tod argue that anyone had no influence that Donald Trump over the events of this year. [ MUSIC ] I didn't get Beyonce and Jay Z and Goose Bernstein to get crowds, I had just me. And ideas that people wanted to hear. But there is a profound argument about whether his influence was for the better or for the worse. And that really is the challenge that faces the country came through this election season more divided conspicuously publicly than at any time through any election cycle that most of us Can remember. [ MUSIC ] We're gonna have a lot of jobs put back. I think we're gonna have a lot of fuel companies leaving our country. I believed we will be successful with defeating ISIS or bringing them down to a level where it's almost the same thing. And I hope I'm judged from the time of the election as opposed to from January 20th because the stock market has had a tremendous bounce and people are seeing very good things for business in this country. [ MUSIC ] One of the things that was remarkable in going to see him, to interview him, is to be in that Penthouse which is the most austiontacious, imaginable marble and mirrors, and gold. And see him in the suit and the diamond cuff links. There is a kind of distance that repressed him about, of how is it that the billionaire is the tribune of the working man? He said, he thought that it had to do With that he wasn't a phony, that there have certainly been wealthy politicians before. Doing some cases would bend over backwards to make themselves appear like the common man, or do anything that they could, eating the corn dog at the Iowa State Fair, wearing a flannel shirt in New Hampshire. I think he had a very strong instinct that his wealth and that flamboyant display of his wealth Was not a liability that it was actually an asset. [ MUSIC ] Donal Trump is very comfortable sitting down and answering questions, although he very frequently does not remotely answer the question that you asked. In one sense it feels very undisciplined and in another sense maybe it's very disciplined in that He knows what he will and will not talk about and is unabashed in completely changing the subject. Do you feel changed by your election, and how you do think, if I play this tape back in four or eight years, the office will have changed here? Well, it's a It's a very humbling experience, I can tell you, as somebody that loves this country, it's a very large country, but it's also an even more powerful country than the numbers, because, if you look at China, and India, and you have others with more people, but, when you look at what we do in this country, it's The most incredible place on earth. [ MUSIC ] A lot of people think that Person of the Year just because the nature of the name is an honor. And certainly there have been years where we have recognized people's whose influence has been altogether, unassailably worthy. Normally, that's not the case. I know there are a lot of people who disagree with so much of what Donald Trump said and are very apprehensive about what his presidency means for them and for the country. I think I would challenge them to suggest that someone else this year had more influence than a way greater Surprise than what he did in 2016. 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