A new USA Today/Suffolk University survey released on Thursday has determined that half of registered voters in the US believe Trump will be remembered in the history books as a “failed” president.
The poll, which surveyed approximately 1,000 registered voters, saw responses from 351 Democrats, 309 Republicans and 276 independents. Another 42 participants declared their party affiliation as “other,” whereas the remaining 22 individuals refused to provide their political affiliation. The majority of the participants identified as white, and most were between the ages of 25 and 74.
When asked whether they approved or disapproved of Trump’s time in office, nearly 52% of those polled indicated that they were unhappy with what the president has done, and when it came down to how history would remember Trump, participants didn’t exactly hold back.
Approximately 50% of registered voters predicted that Trump would be viewed as a “failed” president, while roughly 30% thought that the commander-in-chief would be looked back on as either a “good” or “fair” president.
Babette Salus, a retired attorney from Springfield, Illinois, who voted for US President-elect Joe Biden and was among those surveyed, told USA Today that the "there have probably been worse presidents, [but] I'm not sure there has been a worse one in my lifetime."
Only 16% of the polled group believed Trump would be considered a “great” president.
"I'll tell you what, 50 years out, Trump will be much better regarded than he is at the current time," David Cheff, a 73-year-old Trump voter from Jacksonville, Florida, told the outlet. He added that as the years pass, "Trump will look decent, for sure."
Although Trump’s economic policies ultimately turned out to be a bigger win for corporations and the rich than for middle class voters, a plurality of polled individuals (36%) agreed that the president’s economic policy was his “biggest achievement.” The second-highest voted subcategory (28%) was the option for “none.”
When it came down to Trump’s biggest failures, responses were mostly mixed. Nearly 22% of participants said that his biggest let-down as a president was his “leadership in general.” The top five failures were rounded out with race relations, draining the swamp, immigration and climate change.
With the Electoral College vote decided in favor of Biden, Trump has still refused to concede the 2020 election over claims of rampant voter fraud that the president alleges saw ballots dumped and miscounted. Nearly 70% of the individuals surveyed said it was time for Trump to toss in the towel and admit defeat.
Among other topics discussed, a majority of individuals believed Biden was “legitimately” elected, and that it will be a “good thing” if the incoming president “significantly dismantles” Trump’s legacy. Sixty-seven percent of participants also stated that political divisions in the US were much deeper now than they had been in the past.
The poll was conducted between December 16 and 20, and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
