Poll: Majority say Trump dividing nation, adding prejudice, hatred

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- A majority of voters believe President Donald Trump is further dividing the country, and that prejudice and hatred has increased since his election, according to a new Quinnipiac University survey.

In the poll released Wednesday, 62 percent of respondents say Trump is doing more to divide the country and 31 percent believe he is doing more to unite the nation.

Also, 65 percent believe hatred and prejudice has increased since Trump became president -- compared with 32 percent saying it hasn't changed and 2 percent saying it has decreased.

Fifty percent of respondents believe prejudice against minority groups is a "very serious" problem and 31 percent think it is a "somewhat serious" problem.

A majority of them -- 60 percent -- disapprove of the president's response to the violent clashes earlier this month in Charlottesville, Va., compared with 32 percent who approve.

When asked whether they think Trump has encouraged white supremacist groups, 59 percent say yes, 3 percent say he has discouraged these groups and 35 percent say he has had no impact.

Although Trump says most of the news media is "fake news" and "dishonest," 52 percent trust the media overall and 36 percent believe the president. Voters trust the media more than Trump, 54-36 percent, "to tell you the truth about important issues."

But 55 percent of the voters disapprove of the way the media covers Trump, compared with 40 percent who back the media's approach.

And 69 percent of those surveyed want Trump to stop tweeting and 28 percent want him to continue.

Trump's approval rating is 35 percent and his disapproval percentage was 59 percent. Since Trump became president, his lowest approval rating was 33 percent on Aug. 2 and the highest was 41 percent on March 7.

The only majority of demographic groups approving Trump are Republicans (77 percent), white voters with no college education (52 percent) and white men (50 percent). In other party, gender, education, age and racial groups, he has a higher disapproval rating.

In the following characteristics, 62 percent say Trump doesn't provide moral leadership, 61 percent say he is not honest, 61 percent say he doesn't have good leadership skills, 57 percent said he doesn't care about average Americans, 68 percent say he is not level-headed and 63 percent said he doesn't share their values.

But 59 percent said he is a strong person and 55 percent said he is intelligent.

The survey was conducted from Thursday through Tuesday with 1,514 voters nationwide. It has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.