Trump administration freezes many health agency reports and online posts

WASHINGTON: Americans have a dim view of some of President Donald Trump’s early barrage of executive orders, including his attempt to do away with so-called birthright citizenship and his decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
Since taking office on Jan. 20, the Republican president has moved quickly to crack down on immigration and scale back the size of government, efforts that respondents to the three-day poll that closed on Sunday look on more favorably.
Overall, the poll showed 45 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s performance as president, down slightly from 47 percent in a Jan. 20-21 poll. The share who disapproved was slightly larger at 46 percent, an increase from 39 percent in the prior poll.
The poll had a margin of error of about 4 percentage points.
“While it does seem Trump is getting a honeymoon to some extent, his numbers are still not impressive by historical standards,” said Kyle Kondik, an analyst with the University of Virginia Center for Politics. During Trump’s first term, his approval rating hit as high as 49 percent during his first weeks in office but he closed out his term at 34 percent approval following the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol.
It may be too early to evaluate whether Trump is squandering his political capital by focusing on issues where he is not aligned with the public, Kondik said. But the poll shows that many of his early actions have been greeted warmly only by his hardcore base of supporters.
Voters more generally remain deeply concerned about the high price of food, housing and other necessities, the poll found.
Most Americans opposed ending the nation’s longstanding practice of granting citizenship to children born in the US even if neither parent has legal immigration status, the poll found. Some 59 percent of respondents — including 89 percent of Democrats and 36 percent of Republicans — said they opposed ending birthright citizenship. A federal judge last week temporarily blocked the Trump administration from making changes to birthright citizenship, but the White House has vowed to fight on.

Little support for ‘Gulf of America’

Seventy percent of respondents oppose renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, an action Trump ordered on his first day in office. Only 25 percent of respondents supported the idea, with the rest unsure.
Some 59 percent of respondents, including 30 percent of Republicans, opposed Trump’s moves to end federal efforts to promote the hiring of women and members of racial minority groups. When asked specifically about Trump’s order to close all federal diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, offices, respondents were more evenly divided, with 51 percent opposed and 44 percent in favor, largely along partisan lines.
Support for expanding fossil fuel drilling — another early policy change in the new administration — was highly concentrated in Trump’s party, with 76 percent of Republicans backing the easing of drilling restrictions and 81 percent of Democrats opposing it. Some 59 percent of respondents said they opposed the United States pulling out of the Paris climate accords.
Public views also split along partisan lines for billionaire businessman Elon Musk, one of Trump’s most prominent allies. While 75 percent of Republicans in the survey said they had a favorable view of Musk, 90 percent of Democrats said they had an unfavorable view.
One possible source of concern for Trump’s political team could be the still overwhelming sense that rising prices remain untamed. Some 50 percent of poll respondents said the country was on the wrong track when it came to the cost of living, compared to 25 percent who said it was moving in the right direction. The rest said they weren’t sure or didn’t answer the question.

Support on immigration, hiring freeze
There were positive indicators for Trump, as well. Some 48 percent Americans approve of Trump’s approach on immigration, compared to 41 percent who disapprove. And the poll showed Trump having significant levels of support on the hiring freeze he ordered at most federal offices, with 49 percent of respondents backing a freeze, including 80 percent of Republicans and 43 percent of Democrats.
Kondik said that Trump ultimately may be judged by the public on big-picture issues such as the economy and immigration and that opposition to smaller-scale policy measures may not be damaging.
“Trump was elected in large part because voters tended to side with him on the economy and immigration. To the extent he is viewed as doing positive things on that, it’s probably good for him,” Kondik said.
But, he added, if voters in the coming months perceive Trump’s immigration crackdown or his government downsizing efforts to be overly harsh, that could change.
Trump won’t be on the ballot again, but the backlash could be felt by congressional Republicans running for re-election next year, he said.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which was conducted online and nationwide over Jan. 24-26, surveyed 1,034 adults.

MOSCOW: Ukraine could find a legal way to hold peace talks with Russia on ending their nearly three-year-old war, but Moscow sees no willingness on Kyiv’s part to engage, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
Putin told Russian state television that negotiations with Ukraine were complicated by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “illegitimacy” in remaining in power beyond his mandate with no authority to sign documents.

“But essentially, if they want to proceed, there is a legal way to do it. Let the chairman of the Rada (Ukraine’s parliament) handle it in accordance with the constitution,” Putin told top Kremlin reporter Pavel Zarubin.
“If there is a desire, we can resolve any legal issues. However, so far, we simply do not see such a desire.”

If Ukraine showed a desire to negotiate and seek compromises, Putin said, “let anyone suitable lead those talks. We will naturally secure what meets our interests.
“But in terms of signing documents, everything has to be done in a way that legal experts confirm the legitimacy of those who are authorized by the Ukrainian state to sign these agreements.”

Russia has long alleged that Zelensky no longer has legal authority as his term in office ran out in May 2024 and no presidential election has since been held.
Ukraine’s constitution empowers the speaker of parliament to act if the president is unable to do so.
But Ukrainian authorities say Zelensky remains the legitimate president on grounds that martial law has been in effect since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. They say wartime conditions do not allow for an election to be held.
In his comments, Putin said that if Ukraine’s Western allies backed the notion of talks it would be simple to find a legal way to proceed with them. Putin said he had sent “an appropriate signal” to this effect to former President Joe Biden.
In addition, Putin said, a legal means could be found to rescind a 2022 Ukrainian presidential decree that Moscow says barred any talks with the Russian leadership.
Zelensky said last week that the decree, signed after Russia unilaterally annexed four Ukrainian regions, only barred negotiations with Ukrainian groups outside his authority and was aimed at blocking talks with separatists.