Americans give Trump highest marks on economy, lowest scores on environment, Russia: Gallup

hHalf of Americans approve of President Trump’s handling of the economy while a majority disapprove of his approach on the environment and relations with Russia, according to a new poll.

Gallup found in a poll released Thursday that the president scored his highest marks on the economy out of the nine topics posed to American voters, with 50 percent approving of his work on the issue.

The president often touts economic numbers achieved under his administration, including touting his tax and regulatory policies as the reason the economy posted 4.1 percent growth for 2018’s second quarter.

At least half of American surveyed disapproved of Trump’s handling of all the other topics in the poll, including the situation with North Korea, foreign trade and affairs and immigration.

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He scored his lowest marks on the environment and Russia, with 35 percent saying they approved of his handling of the issues. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of those same topics.

Trump has an overall approval rating of 42 percent, according to Gallup.

The president’s numbers on North Korea have increased by 5 percentage points to 46 percent since February, while those on foreign trade have fallen by 7 percentage points to 39 percent.

Trump faced criticism for his private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, after which he appeared to side with Putin’s denials of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The president later walked back those comments, claiming he misspoke.

The Trump administration has also made rolling back environmental policies a priority, largely under former Environment Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Scott Pruitt.

Gallup interviewed 1,024 adults from Aug. 1-12. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.