May 19 (UPI) — A majority of voters agreed it was “inappropriate” for President Donald Trump to share highly sensitive classified information with Russian diplomats during a White House meeting, a poll released Friday shows.
The Politico/Morning Consult tracking poll found 51 percent of voters surveyed said it was inappropriate, while 22 percent said it was appropriate for Trump to share intelligence about the Islamic State gleaned from an ally.
In a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Russian ambassador, Trump revealed code-word clearance intelligence reportedly gathered by Israel about potential Islamic State terrorist plots in Syria. Unnamed U.S. officials said the details Trump divulged could allow the Russians to identify and disrupt the source of the intelligence inside Syria, where Russia has been providing military support to President Bashar al-Assad.
The incident has affected voters’ confidence in Trump handling the nation’s most sensitive secrets. A plurality in the poll, 41 percent, said they have “no confidence at all” in Trump’s ability to handle classified intelligence. Another 16 percent said they are “not too confident.”
The Politico/Morning Consult poll surveyed 1,970 voters from May 16 to 18. It carries a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
