The Washington chattering classes are livid at President Trump’s comments during Monday’s joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland… but the American people don’t seem to be bothered.
In the first poll to be conducted after the Helsinki summit, Trump’s approval rating actually went up.
According to Rasmussen, which run a three-day tracking poll of the President’s approval, 45% of Americans now approve of Trump.
That’s up one point from Wednesday’s numbers, which placed the President at 44% approval.
A Gallup poll, which was conducted a week before Trump’s comments, seems to confirm that Russia isn’t that big of a deal in the minds of the average voter. When asked about the most important issue facing the country, less than 1% of Americans replied the “situation with Russia.”
Trump received bipartisan backlash for saying, “I don’t see any reason why it would be,” in response to a question about whether or not Russia had influenced the 2016 presidential election.
Since then, Trump claimed that he meant to say “wouldn’t” instead of “would,” which also received backlash from the media.
Regardless of criticism, it looks like Trump is on track once again to survive and even thrive amid the media’s latest controversy-of-the-day.