Like him or not, President Donald Trump continues to draw both high praise and hard criticism from the farm crowd. That’s the bottom line of a Farm Progress poll of 225 mostly farmers attending the 2018 New York Farm Show.

When asked “How do you rate President Trump’s job performance?” 35% rated his performance as “excellent”; 26% scored him as “good”; 19% said he performed “better than expected”; 6% said “worse than expected” and 14% gave him a “poor” rating.

Advice for the President
When asked “How might President Trump improve your rating?” advice was plentiful — constructive and otherwise. Here’s a quick summary:

Praise of Trump included comments such as “Already amazing,” “Couldn’t be better,” “Just keep doing what you’re doing,” and one woman’s comment: “He already has my heart.” The harshest criticisms were messages of “Resign,” “Cut the hate coming out of your mouth,” and “Get off the internet”.

• Personal advice. Respondents offered the president some words of advice, such as “Don’t be so cocky,” “Think before you speak,” “Class up your talking,” “Stick with your script.” “Act more presidential than like a middle-school bully” and “Get some coaching on facial expressions.” One man suggested the president “put Ivanka in charge.”

• About those tweets. While Trump employs tweets to keep his messages in the mainstream media, those polled generally urged curbing off-the-cuff comments. As one put it: “Keep dumb comments to yourself.” Another said: “Choose your words more carefully.”

• Future policy direction. Leading a long list of policy suggestions for improving his rating, a number urged Trump to “keep doing what you’re doing”; pay more attention to rural needs — farm prices and conservation; don’t implement protectionist trade policies, and continue removing economic restrictions.

Securing the border wall and fixing our immigration policy were also commonly mentioned. Many urged him to, as one noted, “bring all political sides together to work for our country, not for themselves.”

Share your constructive thoughts. Email them with your name, town and state to [email protected].