New poll reveals why many Americans disapprove of Trump — and it has nothing to do with Russia

A new survey by Gallup shows that among those who disapprove of President Donald Trump’s presidency, the overwhelming majority say his personality and/or character are to blame, not policy issues.

The Gallup poll, released on Thursday, asked 1,021 adults 18 years old or older what they thought about the Trump presidency. In the group that said they disapproved of Trump (56 percent overall), a whopping 65 percent cited character and/or personality issues as the reason.

Specifically, 29 percent of those who disapproved said it was because Trump is “Not presidential/Bad temperament/Arrogant/Obnoxious.” Ten percent said Trump is “Inexperienced/Doesn't know what he is doing.” Six percent said they believe Trump is “looking out for himself.” Another 6 percent cited his use of social media, especially Twitter. “Untrustworthy” also received 6 percent. Only 3 percent of respondents said they disapproved of Trump because they think he’s racist or sexist.

Very few people said they disapproved because of policy differences. Only 16 percent cited policy issues as the source of their disapproval. Among those who did say his policies were to blame, the three most often-cited issue areas were a general disagreement (4 percent of all disapproving respondents), foreign affairs (4 percent) and health care policies (3 percent). It doesn’t appear from Gallup’s report anyone cited Trump’s immigration policies as the primary reason for disapproving.

Twelve percent said they broadly disapproved of his performance, choosing not to cite specific reasons.

In Gallup’s analysis, the polling organization said it is “abundantly clear that Trump's unique style, flouting of convention and non-normative patterns of White House behavior are driving his high disapproval ratings among the American public — rather than disagreement with his policies or issue stances.”

Gallup’s results are confirmed in part by surveys showing the popularity of many of Trump’s policies, including policies Democrats and the media have been particularly critical of, and unpopularity of some his non-policy-related activities and statements.

For instance, a recent Politico/Morning Consult poll found 60 percent of all voters support the Trump administration’s “new guidelines which say visa applicants from six predominantly Muslim countries must prove a close family relationship with a U.S. resident in order to enter the country." At the end of June, a Fox News poll found 71 percent of voters believe Trump’s use of Twitter is hurting his agenda. Just 17 percent stated they believe the tweets “help.”