--- title: Charlottesville: Majority Donald Trump Did Not Do Enough description: A new poll found that 52% of adults thought that President Donald Trump's response to events in Charlottesville was "not strong enough" canonical: https://time.com/4903291/charlottesville-donald-trump-poll/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-16T21:31:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:01:09.812Z article:section: Politics og:title: 52% Think Trump Wasn't Strong Enough on Charlottesville og:description: Only 27% felt the president's response was adequate. og:url: https://time.com/4903291/charlottesville-donald-trump-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dbb374de305acac/6988da0886f68e4d826e608f/gettyimages-831990178.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: donald trump response charlottesville poll og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 52% Think Trump Wasn't Strong Enough on Charlottesville twitter:description: Only 27% felt the president's response was adequate. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dbb374de305acac/6988da0886f68e4d826e608f/gettyimages-831990178.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 52% of Americans Say Trump's Response to Charlottesville Wasn't Strong Enough by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Aug 16, 2017 9:31 PM UTC  US President Donald Trump speaks following a meeting on infrastructure at Trump Tower, August 15, 2017 in New York City. He fielded questions from reporters about his comments on the events in Charlottesville, Virginia and white supremacists. US President Donald Trump speaks following a meeting on infrastructure at Trump Tower, August 15, 2017 in New York City. He fielded questions from reporters about his comments on the events in Charlottesville, Virginia and white supremacists.Drew Angerer—Getty by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Aug 16, 2017 9:31 PM UTC A [new NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll](http://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content/misc/usapolls/us170814%5FPBS/NPR%5FPBS%20NewsHour%5FMarist%20Poll%5FNational%20Nature%20of%20the%20Sample%20and%20Tables%5FAugust%2017,%202017.pdf#page=3) found that 52% of American adults thought that President Trump’s response to violence that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia, was “not strong enough.” Trump’s comments have been heavily scrutinized since a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville turned deadly Saturday when a man ran his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one and injuring 19. Trump said there was [blame “on both sides”](http://time.com/4902159/donald-trump-there-is-blame-on-both-sides-for-violent-clashes-in-charlottesville/) leading to [several resignations](http://fortune.com/2017/08/14/charlottesville-ken-frazier-trump-ceos/) from his manufacturing council and strategy and policy forum, both of which he [decided to disband](http://time.com/4903380/donald-trump-strategy-ceo-council-disbanding/) shortly after. Only 27% felt Trump’s response was strong enough and 21% said they were unsure. Even among those who said they approve of Trump, 42% said they either felt his response was not strong enough or were unsure. Republicans gave the most support to the President with 59% approving of his response. The poll also revealed Trump’s approval ratings to be at[ record lows. ](http://time.com/4786624/donald-trump-approval-rating-presidents/) The poll was conducted by interviewing 1,125 adults on Aug. 14 and 15 and has a margin of error plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4903291/charlottesville-donald-trump-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4903291/charlottesville-donald-trump-poll/"},"headline":"52% of Americans Say Trump's Response to Charlottesville Wasn't Strong Enough","datePublished":"2017-08-16T21:31:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:01:09.812Z","description":"Only 27% felt Trump's response was adequate","url":"https://time.com/4903291/charlottesville-donald-trump-poll/","keywords":["Charlottesville","White House","Polling","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dbb374de305acac/6988da0886f68e4d826e608f/gettyimages-831990178.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lisa Marie Segarra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dbb374de305acac/6988da0886f68e4d826e608f/gettyimages-831990178.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"donald trump response charlottesville poll","caption":"President Trump Speaks On Infrastructure Meeting Held At Trump Tower","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty","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/charlottesville/","name":"Charlottesville"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4903291/charlottesville-donald-trump-poll/","name":"52% of Americans Say Trump's Response to Charlottesville Wasn't Strong Enough"}}]}] ```