--- title: Most Americans Believe Donald Trump Is Dividing Us: Poll description: Fifty-nine percent of voters believe Donald Trump is encouraging white supremacist groups, according to the Quinnipiac poll canonical: https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-23T19:20:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:07:53.708Z article:section: Politics og:title: Poll: Most Americans Believe Trump Is Dividing the Country og:description: 59% of voters believe Trump is encouraging white supremacist groups og:url: https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ccf75bbe8cdcf48/6988dadd096a94c2d569f441/trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-TRUMP-DEPARTS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Poll: Most Americans Believe Trump Is Dividing the Country twitter:description: 59% of voters believe Trump is encouraging white supremacist groups twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ccf75bbe8cdcf48/6988dadd096a94c2d569f441/trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Poll: Most Americans Believe Donald Trump Is Dividing the Country > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 23, 2017 7:20 PM UTC  US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland on August 22, 2017, en route to Yuma, Arizona. US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland on August 22, 2017, en route to Yuma, Arizona. NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 23, 2017 7:20 PM UTC A new poll from [Quinnipiac University](https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2482) found that most Americans believe that [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4911850/donald-trump-maga-rally-phoenix/) is doing more to divide the country than to unite it. Fifty-nine percent of voters said they believe [Trump](http://time.com/4911855/justice-department-dreamhost-inauguration-protest/) is encouraging white supremacist groups, and 64% believe such groups pose a threat to the country, according to the poll. More than half of voters, 55%, said that there is too much prejudice in American society, while 40% said there is too much “political correctness.” Eighty-one percent responded that prejudice against minority groups is either “very serious” or “somewhat serious,” and 62% said the same of prejudice toward Jews. Half of voters oppose removing [Confederate statues](http://time.com/4903943/charlottesville-trump-confederate-statues-civil-war/) from public spaces, while 39% support it, Quinnipiac reports, with support much higher (67%) among black voters. In an open question, 64 voters said “strong” was the first word that came to them when they thought of Trump, while 59 voters said “idiot,” 58 answered “incompetent, 50 said “liar,” and another 49 voters responded “president.” The poll was conducted from Aug. 17 to 22 among 1,514 voters nationwide with a margin of error of +/- 3.1%. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/"},"headline":"Poll: Most Americans Believe Donald Trump Is Dividing the Country","datePublished":"2017-08-23T19:20:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:07:53.708Z","description":"Fifty-nine percent of voters believe Trump is encouraging white supremacist groups","url":"https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ccf75bbe8cdcf48/6988dadd096a94c2d569f441/trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ccf75bbe8cdcf48/6988dadd096a94c2d569f441/trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-DEPARTS","caption":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-DEPARTS","creditText":"NICHOLAS KAMM—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/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4912926/poll-most-americans-believe-donald-trump-is-dividing-the-country/","name":"Poll: Most Americans Believe Donald Trump Is Dividing the Country"}}]}] ```