'Nonstop, Habitual, and Compulsive Liar': Poll Shows Just 13 Percent of Americans Consider Trump Truthful

On average, President Donald Trump makes more than 6 false or misleading claims per day, according to Washington Post analysis. (Photo: outtacontext/Flickr/cc)

'Nonstop, Habitual, and Compulsive Liar': Poll Shows Just 13 Percent of Americans Consider Trump Truthful

The results follow recent Washington Post analysis that found the president, on average, makes more than six false or misleading remarks each day

Less than halfway through President Donald Trump's second year in office, a mere 13 percent of Americans believe the president is "honest and trustworthy," according to new polling results.

Since February 2017, SurveyMonkey has periodically polled American adults about the president's personal characteristics and qualities. They were asked to select all traits they believe apply to Trump from the following list: honest and trustworthy; shares your values; inspires confidence; cares about people like you; effective manager; keeps his promises; can get things done; tough enough for job; stands up for what he believes in; and none of the above.

Among the 88,708 people surveyed, the number of respondents who believe Trump is honest and trustworthy has slowly but steadily declined from 16 to 13 percent. On average, about 45 percent of those surveyed said they believe the president possess none of the listed traits.

The results come as Trump faces mounting scruity over conflicting comments by him and his attorneys regarding Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into allegations that the Trump campaign may have colluded with Russian operatives who allegedly attempted to influence the 2016 election, as well as the president's ongoing legal battle with adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who was paid hush money by Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen.

Throughout his campaign and presidency, Trump has been heavily criticized for his dishonesty. The Washington Post's Fact Checker blog has even set out to track how many lies he tells while in office--establishing a database and interactive graphic that allows users to compare Trump's statements with the Post's findings.

Post database

According to the blog's most recent update, published on May 1, "In the 466 days since he took the oath of office, President Trump has made 3,001 false or misleading claims"--an average of nearly 6.5 claims per day. The blog notes that when the project first launched, to monitor Trump's comments during his "first 100 days, he averaged 4.9 claims a day. Slowly, the average number of claims has been creeping up."

In January, a pair of watchdog groups published a report entitled The Art of the Lie, whichchronicled Trump's dishonesty during the first year of his presidency. Citing the Post's database and other resources, the report concluded that Trump is "a nonstop, habitual, and compulsive liar."

Join Us: News for people demanding a better world


Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place.

We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference.

Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. Join with us today!

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.