On Wednesday, RushHourDaily reported the results of a recent poll with ISPOS. They showed that half of American citizens overall approve president Donald Trump’s handling of the situation with North Korea and its Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. However, as the days following the summit have shown, only a quarter think that this will result in the denuclearization of North Korea. This is due to few details regarding exactly how the dismantling of their plan will work and a significant compromise by the Trump administration of pulling back on military exercises in the peninsula. The polls were conducted online, between last Tuesday and Wednesday
The meeting that took place at the beginning of the week resulted in a joint release, where North Korea restated that they will move towards complete denuclearization and the U.S. promised to help their country with security issues during the process. This outcome, as uncertain as it is, was a surprise for about forty percent of Americans, who didn’t believe the leaders would follow through with their promises. Over a quarter did have confidence in the meeting’s potential, and thirty-four percent was unsure of what would happen. Other statistics showed that thirty-nine percent of Americans believe the recent climate between the countries has lowered the chances for a nuclear war to happen, and thirty-seven percent believe that nothing has changed from before.
The IPSOS/RushHourDaily polls show that President Trump’s recent actions have been somewhat well received by a significant percentage of the population. This set of actions have been some of Trump’s more important diplomatic decisions so far in his administration, and are a strong departure from the attitude he displayed during his campaign. He changed his previous confronting, tough and threat-heavy approach from the earlier stages of his election, which was probably due to the intervention of South Korean president Moon Jae-in. The meeting has received quite different opinions from Republicans and Democrats, with the former believing that both sides will follow through with their promises and the latter giving Trump low approval ratings for the meeting overall. Overall, the meeting received a fifty percent approval from the public, and most citizens stated that they believe Trump is the most responsible party for its outcome.
After coming back from the summit, President Trump addressed his accomplishments and praised the way the meeting was handled. He proudly stated: “We both want to do something. We both are going to do something. And we have developed a very special bond. People are going to be very impressed. People are going to be very happy.” At the press conference that followed the talks, the president mentioned that the denuclearization process was at its very early stages and that Monday’s meeting was targeted more towards solidifying his bond with the Supreme Leader. He then confessed that the meeting exceeded his expectations, also stating during the summit his belief that the relationship between the two countries “is going to be a very much different situation than it has in the past.”
Due to the unprecedented nature of these negotiations, the recent outcome might help the Republican party during the upcoming congressional elections in November. Although foreign policy rarely influences the voters’ decisions, the press coverage and climate around this meeting sets it apart from previous instances, even if it is in a very early stage of development and could definitely change in the near future. Some strategists have stated that the events would have really been more impactful if they had occurred on a closer date to the elections and had been handled with more seriousness by the press and the administration.
