Nearly two-thirds of US voters want Trump to close Twitter account

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. voters believe that President-elect Donald Trump should close his personal Twitter account, according to a poll released Tuesday.

The poll, conducted by Quinnipiac University, cited Trump's controversial statements on his personal Twitter account throughout the campaign and asked the respondents whether they believe Trump should keep his account on the social network.

A total of 64 percent of the respondents said Trump should delete his Twitter account, while only 32 percent said he should keep it, according to the poll, which surveyed 899 voters nationwide by phone on Jan. 5-9.

Respondents belonging to the age group of 18 to 34 had the strongest negative response, of whom 71 percent said Trump should delete his Twitter account, while only 26 percent said he should maintain it.

Tim Malloy, assistant director of the poll, said that "140 characters may not be enough to tell Donald Trump just how much Americans want him to knock off the tweeting."

The president-elect, who is also a New York real estate mogul, has taken to his tweeting hobby to fight back against his rivals and the alleged "fake" media coverage since he started his campaign for the U.S. president.

He has also used the social media to comment on many other issues, such as foreign and economic policies, the border tax and Obamacare.

In addition, the poll showed that 51 percent of the same voters disapprove of the way in which Trump is handling his post as president-elect.

Still, 52 percent of the surveyed voters say they are "generally optimistic about the next four years" with Trump in the White House, while 43 percent are pessimistic, the poll shows.

Forty-five percent of the total respondents say Trump will take the nation in the right direction, slightly fewer than the 49 percent who predict the nation would embark on the wrong direction.

On the other hand, outgoing President Barack Obama earned 55 percent approval rating from the respondents, representing his best score in seven years in a Quinnipiac poll.

source: Xinhua