More than 60% of Americans want Donald Trump to delete his Twitter account

'While the president-elect argues his missives inform, many say stow the phone,' says poll's assistant director

While Mr trump promised to be 'very restrained' in his Twitter usage upon winning the presidential election, there has been little sign of his promise being put into action (Timothy A. Clary/Getty)

Donald Trump has done little to hide his Twitter habit. The President-elect, who has 19.5 million followers and counting, has described the social media site as his own personal “newspaper” where “when someone attacks me, I can attack them right back”.

But this does not mean the American public are fans of his penchant for tweeting. On the contrary, a recent poll found 64 per cent of Americans think the billionaire property developer should close his Twitter account.

According to the latest national survey from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut released on Tuesday, 74 per cent of young people, aged between 18-34, want the incoming President to close his personal @RealDonaldTrump account.

Voters in every other party, gender, age and racial group were united in their belief he should close it. Republicans are almost equally divided on the issue, with 49 per cent saying Mr Trump should keep the account and 45 per cent suggesting it should be shut.

“While the president-elect argues his missives inform, many say stow the phone,” Tim Malloy, assistant director of the poll, said.

After Mr Trump is inaugurated in nine days time, he will inherit the official presidential Twitter account, @POTUS, which has been the property of Barack Obama for the last eight years. More than 300 tweets by the outgoing president will be wiped.

Sean Spicer, who will serve as White House press secretary in the Mr Trump’s administration, said he expected Mr Trump would tweet from both accounts last week.

While Mr trump promised to be “very restrained” in his Twitter usage upon winning the presidential election, there has been little sign of his promise being put into action. He has recently been using the social media site to vent his frustrations about China, slam Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Celebrity Apprentice Ratings, and label Meryl Streep an “overrated actress” after her Golden Globes rebuke of him.

The incoming President, who has sent over 34 thousand tweets, has been a keen Twitter user for years, using the site to promote both his business interests and political opinions.

“I have a newspaper – I literally have my own newspaper and it's called @iamdonaldtrump,” he boasted of his Twitter account back in 2012.