Washington – Most Americans say they feel “uneasy” about the possibility of conflict with North Korea, with only a third of those surveyed having confidence in President Donald Trump’s ability to handle the situation, a CBS News poll released Tuesday shows.
Seventy-two percent of surveyed Americans say they feel uneasy, compared to just 26% of surveyed Americans who said they are “confident things will be resolved without conflict.”
Democrats are slightly more pessimistic about the situation — 79% of surveyed Democrats and 68% of Republicans say they feel uneasy about the possibility of conflict.
Only 35% of surveyed Americans said they are confident in Trump’s “ability to handle the situation with North Korea’s nuclear program.” Responses to this question were divided along party lines: 76% of Republicans are confident in Trump with regard to North Korea compared to just 10% of Democrats.
Sixty percent of surveyed Americans said they felt the threat can be contained. Republicans were more inclined than Democrats to say North Korea’s nuclear program is “a threat to the US that requires military action now,” with 48% of surveyed Republicans and 22% of surveyed Democrats saying that reflects their views.
The UN Security Council unanimously passed sanctions on North Korea Saturday following missile tests from North Korea last month. Experts believe if the most recent test had been fired on a flatter, standard trajectory, it could have threatened cities like Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago.
Trump told a reporter last month, “We will handle North Korea. We are going to be able to handle them. It will be handled. We handle everything.”
The CBS News poll was conducted from August 3 to 6, surveying 1,111 people with a margin of error of 4%.
As reported by CNN