Poll: Majority of Americans think Trump hasn't been tough enough on Saudi Arabia


President Trump's response to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi isn't earning high marks from the American public.
A new poll from Axios/SurveyMonkey found that 56 percent of Americans feel Trump hasn't been tough enough on Saudi Arabia following the murder of Khashoggi, who was killed after visiting the Saudi consulate in Turkey earlier this month. In the aftermath, Trump has repeatedly emphasized that Saudi Arabia is an ally to the United States and has appeared willing to believe the Saudi government's shifting stories about how Khashoggi died, and claims that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had no involvement. In the poll, 32 percent of respondents said Trump's reaction has been about right, while 5 percent said he's been too tough.
The poll's results mainly fall along partisan lines, although Democrats are more united than Republicans. Seventy-eight percent of Democrats think Trump has not been tough enough, while 56 percent of Republicans think his response has been about right; 37 percent of Republicans think that he has not been tough enough. Among Independents, 55 percent think Trump's response has been too soft.
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Americans also don't seem to be behind the idea that Saudi Arabia is a friend of the U.S.: Just 10 percent of respondents said Saudi Arabia is an ally, while 35 percent said it's "friendly, but not an ally," 37 percent said it's "unfriendly," and 12 percent said it's an "enemy." Despite all of this, the poll does show that Trump's overall approval rating on foreign policy issues has gone up four points since August to 45 percent.
This poll was conducted by speaking to 3,919 U.S. adults online from Oct. 17 through Oct. 23. The margin of error is +/- 2.5 percentage points. Read the full results at Axios.
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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