美国国家公共电台 NPR Majority Of Americans See Trump's First Year As A Failure

Majority Of Americans See Trump¹'s First Year As A Failure

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

We have a report card this morning for President Trump as we approach the one-year anniversary of his inauguration². It comes from a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll fresh out this morning, and it is not good news for the president. A majority of Americans, 53 percent, say his first year in office has been a failure. NPR's lead political editor Domenico Montanaro is here with more details. Hi, Domenico.

DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE³: Hey there, David.

GREENE: So we've heard all year that President Trump's approval ratings have been, you know, at record lows. So I guess this isn't too surprising, but can you dig into why exactly Americans have been unhappy with his performance?

MONTANARO: Yeah. If you look at the issues, I mean, look at foreign policy. Fifty-four percent of Americans say American foreign policy has deteriorated⁴ in the last year under this president. Most pressing for a lot of people is North Korea. Fifty-eight percent disapprove⁵ of this president's handling of North Korea, and more than 70 percent say they're worried about war breaking out with the country.

GREENE: Wow. That's striking that that people would think a war could be happening soon.

MONTANARO: Absolutely. And it's a huge number, and it's why so many people you can see were so scared when that false alarm went out in Hawaii over the weekend. You know, more than 60 percent say that he's done more to divide the nation than unite it. That's a huge number, 2 to 1. And, not surprising perhaps, given that he's largely played to his base as the president, but, you know, that has helped him keep his base. Among the base, 91 percent say that his year has been a success, but he hasn't played much to the middle.

GREENE: OK. So if he can look at his base as really being behind him, as one positive, are there any other positives in these numbers that the president could look at?

MONTANARO: Yeah, and they shouldn't be overlooked because they're big things - the economy and his handling of ISIS. You know, they're OK numbers for him. You know, by a margin⁶ of 48 to 40, people say that they approve of the way he's handled going after the terrorist organization ISIS. And the economy, most people say, is pretty good. So, you know, those are big things, obviously, especially in an election year. But his signature legislative⁷ achievement, the tax bill, still unpopular. And he's going to try to sell that today. He's underwater with that. You know, only 36 percent of the country approves of it, and most people, 6 in 10, think that his policies are aimed at helping⁸ the rich. Just a quarter say that he's trying to help the middle class.

GREENE: You know, we've been talking about setting up this election year, and there seem to be some competing narratives⁹. I mean, the Republican National Committee seems to have more money than the Democratic Party but the Democrats¹⁰ have won some races that suggest that maybe they could be looking for a good year. Are you learning anything in this poll that might help you predict where these congressional elections might go?

MONTANARO: We always like to have the pollsters test what I call the generic¹¹ ballot¹² - who do you want to control Congress? And right now Democrats are ahead on that score by six points, but that's not a comfortable lead for Democrats and those hoping that Democrats will take back the House or Senate this fall. You know, I asked our pollster about this, and he said that there largely seems to be a change depending on how Trump comports¹³ himself. You know, whether or not he's embroiled¹⁴ in controversy¹⁵. And we should say that this poll was taken before Trump's disparaging¹⁶ remarks about African countries relating to immigration. And the point was that if he stays cool then it looks like he's plus - you know, that Democrats are plus five or six points as opposed to 17 like we've seen in other polls. That could be worrying for Democrats and also a lesson for President Trump.

GREENE: Domenico, I mean, tell me if I'm wrong, but I think both people who support this president and oppose him would agree that that this first year has been sort of a defining moment in this country. I mean, is there a way to step back and get a sense for where people see this country in, you know, a year into the Trump era?

MONTANARO: So again, this president's got a 37 percent approval rating right now, and 42 percent of the country think the country's changing for the worse. Thirty-six percent think it's changed for the better. So again, we see that mid-30s number for the president on a lot of these scores for his positive marks. Nearly 6 in 10 think the country's going in the wrong direction. And what's fascinating about that is that it's been exactly almost the same number since Barack Obama was in office, but if you look below those numbers, it's been a complete partisan¹⁷ flip¹⁸. We've seen three-quarters to, you know, 8 in 10 Democrats think that the country's is going in the wrong direction when about that exact same number said they thought it was going pretty well under President Obama.

GREENE: Amazing. OK. A new poll we're seeing this morning as we hit the one-year mark in President Trump's presidency¹⁹. Speaking about that poll with NPR lead political editor Domenico Montanaro. Domenico, thanks.

MONTANARO: All right. You're welcome.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

5 disapprove   

v.不赞成，不同意，不批准

参考例句：

• I quite disapprove of his behaviour.我很不赞同他的行为。
• She wants to train for the theatre but her parents disapprove.她想训练自己做戏剧演员，但她的父母不赞成。

6 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

7 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

10 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

12 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

13 comports   

v.表现( comport的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She always comports herself with great dignity. 她的举止总是很端庄。
• He comports himself with modesty. 他表现得很谦虚。 来自辞典例句

14 embroiled   

adj.卷入的；纠缠不清的

参考例句：

• He became embroiled in a dispute with his neighbours. 他与邻居们发生了争执。
• John and Peter were quarrelling, but Mary refused to get embroiled. 约翰和彼得在争吵，但玛丽不愿卷入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

16 disparaging   

adj.轻蔑的，毁谤的v.轻视( disparage的现在分词 )；贬低；批评；非难

参考例句：

• Halliday's comments grew daily more and more sparklingly disagreeable and disparaging. 一天天过去，哈里代的评论越来越肆无忌惮，越来越讨人嫌，越来越阴损了。 来自英汉文学 - 败坏赫德莱堡
• Even with favorable items they would usually add some disparaging comments. 即使对好消息，他们也往往要加上几句诋毁的评语。 来自互联网

17 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

18 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

19 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。