Administration

Poll: Half of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of North Korea after summit

A slight majority of Americans believes that President Trump has handled North Korea well, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday.

Fifty-one percent of respondents said they approve of how Trump has dealt with tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and 40 percent said they believe that Trump deserves the most credit for a landmark summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The poll results came a day after Trump and Kim met face-to-face in Singapore and signed a joint pledge committing the U.S. to unspecified security guarantees for North Korea in exchange for the eventual denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

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But some lawmakers and experts have raised questions about the details of the agreement, which offers virtually no specifics on how Pyongyang will dismantle its nuclear program. Instead, it commits Pyongyang to denuclearization, a promise the North has made — and broken — many times in the past.

According to the Reuters poll, 26 percent of Americans said they believe that both the U.S. and North Korea will meet their commitments under the agreement. Another 34 percent said they did not know whether the countries would stick to their word.

While most Americans approve of Trump’s handling of North Korea, 39 percent of respondents said they believe the summit between the president and Kim has lowered the threat of nuclear war. Slightly fewer — 37 percent — said it did not change current threat levels.

Trump declared on Wednesday that “there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.”

The Reuters/Ipsos poll surveyed more than 1,000 voters from June 12-13. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.