--- description: A new Quinnipiac University Poll has found the most common words people associate with President Donald Trump. They include idiot, incompetent and leader title: What Word Comes to Mind When People Think About President Trump? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e24d670d515dcf9/6988cb5b8e0601ad2b46a2ce/donald-trump-rodrigo-duterte-visit.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # What Word Comes to Mind When People Think About President Trump? Idiot, Incompetent, Leader by [Madeline Farber](/author/madeline-farber/) ## Madeline Farber Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 10, 2017 7:21 PM CUT  US President Donald Trump arrives to address the National Rifle Association (NRA) Leadership Forum in Atlanta, Georgia on April 28, 2017. US President Donald Trump arrives to address the National Rifle Association (NRA) Leadership Forum in Atlanta, Georgia on April 28, 2017.JIM WATSON—AFP/Getty Images by [Madeline Farber](/author/madeline-farber/) ## Madeline Farber Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 10, 2017 7:21 PM CUT What do the words _idiot_, _incompetent_, _leader_, and _liar_ all have in common? According to a [new poll](https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2456 "undefined"), they are some of the first words that come to many people’s minds when thinking about [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4773605/james-comey-fired-officials/ "undefined"). A new [Quinnipiac University survey](http://time.com/4774551/donald-trump-approval-rating-may-quinnipiac-poll/ "undefined") of 1,078 [voters](http://time.com/4758889/trump-voters-approve-president/ "undefined") across the nation has found that words like incompetent; _liar; leader; unqualified; president; strong; businessman; ignorant; egotistical;_ and _asshole_ are some of those most commonly associated with the president. The top three words (_idiot_, _incompetent_, and _liar_) were given as response 39, 31, and 30 times, respectively. The least commonly used words included: _Aggressive, decisive, embarrassment, evil,_ [_patriotism_](http://time.com/4641112/trump-patriotism-day-history/ "undefined")_,_ and _negotiator_, to name a few. > [](https://twitter.com/pbump/status/862368572013760512) The survey was conducted from May 4 to 9, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4774598/words-associated-donald-trump-quinnipiac-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4774598/words-associated-donald-trump-quinnipiac-poll/"},"headline":"What Word Comes to Mind When People Think About President Trump? Idiot, Incompetent, Leader","datePublished":"2017-05-10T19:21:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:51:27.539Z","description":"Aggressive, decisive, and embarrassment were some of the least-used words","url":"https://time.com/4774598/words-associated-donald-trump-quinnipiac-poll/","keywords":["Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e24d670d515dcf9/6988cb5b8e0601ad2b46a2ce/donald-trump-rodrigo-duterte-visit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Madeline Farber","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/madeline-farber/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e24d670d515dcf9/6988cb5b8e0601ad2b46a2ce/donald-trump-rodrigo-duterte-visit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-NRA","caption":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-NRA","creditText":"JIM WATSON—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4774598/words-associated-donald-trump-quinnipiac-poll/","name":"What Word Comes to Mind When People Think About President Trump? Idiot, Incompetent, Leader"}}]}] ```