Republicans overwhelmingly approved of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin — even though many congressional Republicans publicly criticized the president.
A new CBS poll shows that 68 percent of Republicans approved of how Trump handled the meeting, while only 21 percent did not. Eleven percent said they did not know or preferred not to answer.
Democrats were more united against Trump, as 83 percent signaled dissatisfaction with the summit. Only eight percent of Democrats approved.
A majority of independents, 53 percent, also opposed Trump’s handling of the meeting, while only 29 approved. Eighteen percent of independents did not know or preferred not to answer.
Voters, however, were mostly split on the proper strategy for dealing with Russia.
Forty-eight percent of all polled Americans said economic and diplomatic pressure was the right tone, whereas 41 percent said the United States should look for opportunities for dialogue and cooperation with Russia.
The poll was conducted by telephone July 17-18, 2018, among a random sample of 1,007 adults nationwide.