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CNN
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
What polls show ahead of Friday's Trump-Putin meeting
We're all waiting to see what comes of President Donald Trump's high-stakes meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday. Will Trump go with the harder line on the Russian president that he debuted last month? Or will he revert to his kid gloves treatment of Putin that reigned for many years before that? And what are the actual prospects for some kind of ceasefire or even a peace deal? These are the major unknowns. But going into the meeting, a couple things are clear: Americans are more hawkish on the war in Ukraine than they've been in a long time, and Trump has his work cut out for him. Trump's recent moves toward criticizing Putin appear to have helped awaken some of the inner hawkishness that once dominated the conservative movement's foreign policy. A Chicago Council on Global Affairs poll released Friday showed the percentage of Republicans who favor sending Ukraine additional arms and military supplies rising from 30% in March to 51% today. The percentage of Republicans who favor increased sanctions on Russia has also jumped, from 63% in March to 74% today. A new Pew Research Center poll released Thursday showed just 30% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said the United States is doing 'too much' to support Ukraine. That number is down sharply from the 47% who said the same in February, and it's the lowest it has been since the first year of the war, in 2022. Similarly, the numbers among all Americans show an increasing appetite for standing by Ukraine. Just 18% of Americans said the US was doing 'too much,' while a majority said it was doing 'about the right amount' or 'not enough.' Both of those numbers lean more in Ukraine's favor than at any point since 2022. A Fox News poll last month echoed those findings. It showed 38% of voters said the US 'should be doing more' to help Ukraine. That's the highest that number has ever been, in polling dating back to December 2022. (Polls earlier in 2022 asked a different version of the question.) While Americans in October said by double digits that the US should be doing less, in July they said by double digits that we should be doing more. And again, there was a major shift among Republicans. While majorities said in May 2024 and October 2024 that the United States 'should be doing less' for Ukraine, that number plummeted to 32% in July. Both polls also show how this could complicate matters for Trump. His many years of treating Putin gently have created a clear sense that he's not necessarily up to the task of playing hardball with him, and now Americans seem to want a harder line. The Pew poll, for instance, showed about half of Americans who offered an opinion said Trump was too favorable toward Russia. That's down from March – perhaps reflecting Trump's tougher comments on Putin – but it's still a huge number of Americans who think he's too cozy with an American adversary. And perhaps most striking ahead of Friday's meeting is a finding from the Fox poll. It asked whether people thought Trump or Putin had the 'upper hand in the situation in Ukraine.' Voters said that was Putin, 58-35%. Even 37% of Republicans said Putin had the upper hand. In context, that might not seem too surprising. Putin, unlike Trump, controls one of the two militaries in the conflict, so obviously he has lots of control over what happens. But it's very rare to see that many Republicans concede that Trump is effectively being outmaneuvered. A major ethos of the MAGA movement is that Trump always has some secret, genius plan in the works – three-dimensional chess! – that his critics just don't understand. But lots of Republicans don't seem to see it here. Overall, the war in Ukraine is one of Trump's worst issues right now in terms of polling. Friday could be a chance to start righting the ship, or it could reinforce why Americans have been so skeptical of his confusing handling of Putin.
CNN
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
What polls show ahead of Friday's Trump-Putin meeting
We're all waiting to see what comes of President Donald Trump's high-stakes meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday. Will Trump go with the harder line on the Russian president that he debuted last month? Or will he revert to his kid gloves treatment of Putin that reigned for many years before that? And what are the actual prospects for some kind of ceasefire or even a peace deal? These are the major unknowns. But going into the meeting, a couple things are clear: Americans are more hawkish on the war in Ukraine than they've been in a long time, and Trump has his work cut out for him. Trump's recent moves toward criticizing Putin appear to have helped awaken some of the inner hawkishness that once dominated the conservative movement's foreign policy. A Chicago Council on Global Affairs poll released Friday showed the percentage of Republicans who favor sending Ukraine additional arms and military supplies rising from 30% in March to 51% today. The percentage of Republicans who favor increased sanctions on Russia has also jumped, from 63% in March to 74% today. A new Pew Research Center poll released Thursday showed just 30% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said the United States is doing 'too much' to support Ukraine. That number is down sharply from the 47% who said the same in February, and it's the lowest it has been since the first year of the war, in 2022. Similarly, the numbers among all Americans show an increasing appetite for standing by Ukraine. Just 18% of Americans said the US was doing 'too much,' while a majority said it was doing 'about the right amount' or 'not enough.' Both of those numbers lean more in Ukraine's favor than at any point since 2022. A Fox News poll last month echoed those findings. It showed 38% of voters said the US 'should be doing more' to help Ukraine. That's the highest that number has ever been, in polling dating back to December 2022. (Polls earlier in 2022 asked a different version of the question.) While Americans in October said by double digits that the US should be doing less, in July they said by double digits that we should be doing more. And again, there was a major shift among Republicans. While majorities said in May 2024 and October 2024 that the United States 'should be doing less' for Ukraine, that number plummeted to 32% in July. Both polls also show how this could complicate matters for Trump. His many years of treating Putin gently have created a clear sense that he's not necessarily up to the task of playing hardball with him, and now Americans seem to want a harder line. The Pew poll, for instance, showed about half of Americans who offered an opinion said Trump was too favorable toward Russia. That's down from March – perhaps reflecting Trump's tougher comments on Putin – but it's still a huge number of Americans who think he's too cozy with an American adversary. And perhaps most striking ahead of Friday's meeting is a finding from the Fox poll. It asked whether people thought Trump or Putin had the 'upper hand in the situation in Ukraine.' Voters said that was Putin, 58-35%. Even 37% of Republicans said Putin had the upper hand. In context, that might not seem too surprising. Putin, unlike Trump, controls one of the two militaries in the conflict, so obviously he has lots of control over what happens. But it's very rare to see that many Republicans concede that Trump is effectively being outmaneuvered. A major ethos of the MAGA movement is that Trump always has some secret, genius plan in the works – three-dimensional chess! – that his critics just don't understand. But lots of Republicans don't seem to see it here. Overall, the war in Ukraine is one of Trump's worst issues right now in terms of polling. Friday could be a chance to start righting the ship, or it could reinforce why Americans have been so skeptical of his confusing handling of Putin.
CBS News
30-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Trump lashes out at Leonard Leo, legal activist who helped him pick Supreme Court justices: "Probably hates America"
President Trump attacked the powerful conservative legal activist Leonard Leo late Thursday, calling the former Federalist Society leader who once advised the president on Supreme Court picks a "bad person" who "probably hates America." Mr. Trump lashed out at Leo a day after a panel of judges — including a Trump appointee — called most of his tariffs illegal. The ruling, which was paused by an appellate court, put Mr. Trump at odds with some conservative lawyers: Two of the three judges who decided the case were appointed by Republicans, and the decision came in response to a lawsuit that cited right-leaning legal theories. The president attacked the three judges behind that ruling in a Truth Social post late Thursday, calling it a "horrible, Country threatening decision" and suggesting it was made because the judges hate him. He then turned his attention to Leo and the Federalist Society, two longstanding pillars of the conservative legal movement widely credited with helping Mr. Trump pick hundreds of federal judges — some of whom have ruled against his administration. "I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on Judges," Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social late Thursday. "I did so, openly and freely, but then realized that they were under the thumb of a real "sleazebag" named Leonard Leo, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions." In a statement to Politico, Leo said: "I'm very grateful for President Trump transforming the Federal Courts, and it was a privilege being involved," Leo said. "There's more work to be done, for sure, but the Federal Judiciary is better than it's ever been in modern history, and that will be President Trump's most important legacy." CBS News has reached out to Leo and the Federalist Society for comment. Mr. Trump's attacks on Leo and the Federalist Society are striking because of their years-long alliance with the president. During his 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump promised to listen to the right-leaning legal organization when making judicial picks, saying in an interview: "We're going to have great judges, conservative, all picked by the Federalist Society." During Mr. Trump's first term, Leo advised the president on his Supreme Court picks, who form a key part of the high court's 6-3 conservative majority. Leo spoke with Mr. Trump shortly after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement in 2018, opening up a vacancy on the court that was filled by Brett Kavanaugh, Leo told CBS News at the time. When asked how Mr. Trump decided to create a list of possible high court nominees, Leo said the president "called and asked to meet and suggested the idea of doing a list." Mr. Trump spoke positively about Leo in his first term. "We had a list that you worked on very hard, and others," the president said in a 2019 event. But on Thursday, Mr. Trump said he's "disappointed in The Federalist Society because of the bad advice they gave me on numerous Judicial Nominations." Mr. Trump also noted Leo has "left The Federalist Society to do his own 'thing,'" possibly referring to Leo's work with the Teneo Network, a group intended to — in Leo's words — "crush liberal dominance" in fields other than law, from entertainment to finance. The president has clashed with judges repeatedly in recent months, as parts of his agenda — including tariffs and immigration policy — face pushback from the federal judiciary. In particular, tariffs could pit one of Mr. Trump's signature economic policies against some of the legal theories championed by the conservative judicial movement. Lawsuits arguing Mr. Trump doesn't have the power to levy sweeping global tariffs have cited the nondelegation doctrine and the major questions doctrine, two legal concepts that right-leaning members of the Supreme Court — including ones chosen by Mr. Trump — have embraced for years.
