Is Trump Weakening America Abroad?

Half of the nation’s voters already think President Donald Trump has weakened the United States’ role in the world, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll.

Trump has been criticized for a series of errors including a raid in Yemen that left a Navy Seal dead, insulting German Chancellor Angela Merkel by refusing to shake her hand, and the meeting that Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto canceled after Trump insisted Mexico would pay for the proposed wall along the U.S. southern border.

Fifty-five percent of voters think Trump has weakened the U.S.’s role, which is an increase from 52 percent in February. Not surprisingly, that includes 83 percent of Democrats but it also includes 59 percent of independents and 17 percent of Republicans as well as 12 percent of those who call themselves Trump supporters. Thirty-six percent think he has made the U.S. stronger. Nine percent were unsure.

“There is a fine line between showing strength and being confrontational in international matters and President Trump is still trying to find that line,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion in New York, which conducted the survey.

“Even in the past month, his numbers for the image of the United States on the world stage and in his meeting with foreign leaders have declined, including among his GOP base,” Miringoff said.

He is expected to take his first trip abroad in May when he attends the G-7 and NATO summits in Belgium and Italy and is expected to visit Canada and Britain later this year.