Despite mostly negative reviews from journalists and talking heads in the mainstream media, last week’s summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un got higher marks from the public.

Consider three major polls published in the past few days:

  • A Monmouth University survey conducted from Tuesday through Wednesday found that 71 percent of Americans thought having the meeting was a good idea. Respondents were split on Trump — with 46 percent expressing confidence in his ability to handle the matter, compared with 51 percent who had no confidence. But by a margin of 51 percent to 39 percent, they thought the meeting would help decrease the nuclear threat. They said it made Trump look stronger rather than weaker, by a margin of 51 percent to 39 percent.
  • A Politico/Morning Consult poll conducted Tuesday through Thursday indicated that 54 percent thought the summit was “somewhat” or “very” successful. Following the meeting, 41 percent of respondents said they viewed Trump more favorably, compared with 17 percent who viewed him less favorably. By a margin of 45 percent to 33 percent, respondents said they view the summit as a significant major turning point.
  • A Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted Wednesday through Friday found that 55 percent of respondents believe it is too early to judge whether the summit was a success. But the survey also found an increase in confidence from a poll conducted in April. Last week’s survey suggested 41 percent thought it was somewhat or very likely that North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons. That is up 11 points from the 30 percent in April who said a meeting would lead to denuclearization.
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Stephen Bannon, former chief strategist at the Trump White House, said Sunday the president should have gotten better coverage from the media.

“President Trump is trying to be a peacemaker,” he told “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” guest host Jonathan Karl. “In that process, he hasn’t given up anything. All he was this week was vilified … He has to have the vision. He has to negotiate the deal. He has to execute the deal.”

Bannon ripped Establishment Republicans for not defending the president.

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“The Republican Establishment doesn’t have enough guts to come to these microphones this weekend and back him up as a guy who’s trying to do something,” he said.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” praised Trump for pursuing a diplomatic solution. But he said the president’s statement that he already had solved the problem was “absolutely preposterous” and suggested Trump mishandled the summit.

“The meeting itself, the summit, was a great victory for Kim Jong-un,” he said. “He got the prestige of the first leader of North Korea to be literally embraced by the president of the United States. His sordid record on human rights, on mistreating his own people, was not only ignored, but frankly, contradicted in many respects by the president’s comments.”

PoliZette senior writer Brendan Kirby can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.