Over half Americans say Trump not making progress in changing D.C.

WASHINGTON - Over half of Americans say that President Donald Trump has not made progress to change Washington D.C. as promised, according to a new Gallup poll.

The April 21-22 poll shows that, by 54 percent to 40 percent, Americans are more inclined to disagree than agree that Trump has made progress on his goal of changing the way Washington works.

When Gallup did the same poll in 2009, it found that by 53 percent to 45 percent, Americans believed that former President Barack Obama had made progress in changing the way Washington works.

Trump, a Washington outsider, promised during last year's campaign that he would "drain the swamp" in Washington if he got elected president. In his most recent weekly radio and internet address as president, Trump touted he has brought "profound change" to Washington.

The poll found that opinions about Trump's efforts to change Washington are driven mostly by political partisanship. While 78 percent of Republicans believe Trump has made progress, 79 percent of Democrats say he has not. Fifty-nine percent of independents believe Trump has not made progress.

Obama took some steps early in his administration to address ethical issues in Washington, limiting the hiring of lobbyists in his administration and releasing records of visitors to the White House.

Trump has instituted a five-year ban on former government officials lobbying their former colleagues in order to reduce the influence of the Washington establishment.

However, while Trump has appointed some Cabinet secretaries and key advisers who are from the business world or private sector with no prior government experience, this has aroused concerns about conflicts of interest as they have certain decision-making powers.