Majority of millennials do not like Trump, Twitter: US Poll

Over 60 per cent of millennials in the US disapprove of Donald Trump's performance and only 37 per cent view the president favourably, according to a survey.

The poll conducted by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the US found that Trump, his Twitter activities and Twitter in general are not popular with millennials.

The survey of 1,000 adults was conducted prior to the government shutdown, the researchers said.

Of those polled, 54 per cent identified themselves as Democrats, 32 per cent as Republicans, 12 per cent as independents and two per cent were unsure, they said.

Sixty-two per cent of all millennials -- Americans aged 18 to 37-- surveyed said they disapprove of Trump's job performance and only 37 per cent said they view the president favourably.

Among millennials who identified as Republicans, more than 80 per cent said they approve of the job Trump is doing as president.

A majority of millennials do not approve of Trump's behaviour on Twitter, researchers said.

Sixty-eight per cent said the president tweets too much, 26 per cent said he tweets about the right amount and six per cent said he doesn't tweet enough.

Even among Republicans, 40 per cent said they feel the president tweets too much.

"Millennials largely dislike Trump because they so strongly identify with the Democratic party and independent millennials are prone to agree with Democrats on a lot of policy issues," said John Cluverius, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

"Republican millennials like Trump and like the job he's doing as president, but two-fifths of them want the president to tweet less. It goes to show that even among his staunchest supporters, there's concern about the president's personal approach to the office," said Cluverius, who oversaw the poll and analysed the results.

Twitter itself gets a low approval rating from millennials, with only 37 per cent saying they view the social media platform favourably. Facebook gets the same low mark, too, with a 37 per cent favourability rating, researchers said.

"I was surprised to see such low favourables for Facebook and Twitter, given that this generation makes up a huge part of the user bases of both platforms.

"Younger millennials may be switching to platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, but I think this finding reinforces the idea that while lots of people use these services, they don't make people happy," said Cluverius.

The poll also asked millennials for their views on the issues of gun control and immigration.

When it comes to immigration, millennials expressed far less liberal attitudes than on other issues, according to Cluverius.

Thirty-five per cent of those polled said the US should let in more people from other countries, 34 per cent said the country should let in fewer people from other countries.

The poll also asked millennials for their feelings on potential 2020 presidential candidates: Trump, Joe Biden, Beto O'Rourke, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Fifty-four per cent polled said they will support whoever the Democratic nominee is, compared to 27 per cent who said they will vote for Trump, 10 per cent who are undecided and nine per cent who said they will vote for another candidate.

Biden and Sanders are the most well-liked by millennials, with 54 per cent who have a favourable impression of Sanders and 51 per cent who have a favourable view of Biden.