Poll: Most Americans say Trump’s behavior ‘not what I expect from a president’

Donald Trump is pictured here. | Getty Images

President Donald Trump promised to bring a fresh, outsider approach to the Oval Office, but about 7 in 10 voters nonetheless say the commander in chief’s behavior “is not what I expect from a president,” according to a poll released Thursday.

The George Washington University poll found that 71 percent of voters had that view of Trump’s comportment in office, while 27 percent disagreed that his behavior was not what they expected.

Sixty-eight percent of registered voters said Trump’s actions and rhetoric “could get us accidentally involved in an international conflict,” while 29 percent disagreed with that statement, the poll found.

The poll comes amid a rocky August for the president, who has faced criticism for his response after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, left one counterprotester dead. The poll also found that 42 percent of voters approve of the job Trump has done so far in office, while 55 percent disapprove. Fifty-six percent of registered voters said Trump has not been an effective president, while 39 percent said he had been.

The portion of voters with a favorable view of Trump — 41 percent, compared to 56 percent with an unfavorable view — was higher in the poll than for both House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, with 36 percent and 19 percent, respectively, viewing them favorably.

Both Republican congressional leaders have drawn ire from the president in recent days over the GOP’s stalled legislative agenda — most notably, a failure to follow through on a seven-year effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

The poll surveyed 1,009 registered voters nationwide from Aug. 13-17, and it had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.