51% Now Think North Korea Likely to Slow or Stop Nuclear Weapons

Voters are growing more confident that President Trump is on track to disarm North Korea’s nukes.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 51% of Likely U.S. Voters now believe the president’s upcoming meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is likely to result in the slowing or stopping of North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons. This includes 23% who say it’s Very Likely. This compares to 38% and 12% respectively just two months ago.

Fifty-one percent (51%) said in early March that the Trump/Kim summit was unlikely to put the brakes on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Just 39% feel that way now, with only 14% who say it’s Not At All Likely. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Still, 29% of voters feel the president has been too aggressive in his dealings with North Korea, but only 14% say he hasn’t been aggressive enough. Forty-three percent (43%) rate Trump’s response to the North Koreans’ repeated nuclear threats against the United States as about right. Fourteen percent (14%) are undecided.

These findings are comparable to voter attitudes following the president’s recent decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran. 

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on May 10 and 13, 2018 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Fears of a North Korean nuclear attack were already lessening by the first of the year as Trump’s team stepped up diplomatic efforts.

Seventy-two percent (72%) of Republicans think the Trump/Kim summit is likely to lead to the slowing or stopping of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. However, that view is shared by only 36% of Democrats and 48% of voters not affiliated with either major party.

While 70% of GOP voters believe the president’s response to North Korea has been about right, only 22% of Democrats and 38% of unaffiliateds agree. Just as many Democrats (21%) feel the Republican president has not been aggressive enough, while 43% say he has been too aggressive.

Men and those 40 and over are more likely than women and younger voters to think Trump’s on track to disarm the North Koreans.

Most voters who believe president has not been aggressive enough (56%) or about right in his response (77%) feel North Korea is likely to slow or stop its nuclear weapons development. Among voters who feel Trump has been too aggressive, just 26% consider that likely.

Seventy percent (70%) of all voters continue to regard North Korea as a vital national security interest for the United States.

A high of 45% favored the use of U.S. military force against North Korea to prevent its further development of nuclear weapons in July of last year. But 75% believed the United Nations and the international community should do more – up to and including military action – to stop the North Koreans.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Democrats and unaffiliated voters by a 47% to 41% margin said last September that Trump is a bigger danger to the United States than the North Korean dictator who was threatening to attack us with nuclear weapons.

If Trump brings the North Korea crisis to a peaceful end, Americans think he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize as much as former President Obama now merits the one he received in 2009.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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