The 2024 Republican primary begins on Monday with the Iowa caucuses, closely followed by the New Hampshire primary on January 23. Ahead of the Republican primaries, two YouGov polls asked Americans whether they support or oppose 30 policies proposed by Republican front-runner Donald Trump — without specifying that he has proposed them — and about which Republican primary candidate would do the best job handling a set of 16 policy issues as president.
A handful of the Trump proposals included in the poll get majority support from Americans. Majorities strongly or somewhat support Trump’s proposals to ban hormonal or surgical treatment for transgender minors (57%) and to require asylum seekers from Latin America to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed in the U.S. (56%). About half support each of the following: passing a law establishing that only two genders, as determined at birth, are recognized by the U.S. (53%), arresting and deporting thousands of illegal immigrants (51%), and building a wall that extends along the entire U.S.-Mexico border (49%).
Among Trump's proposals included in the poll, Americans are most likely to strongly or somewhat oppose cutting taxes on corporations (61%), giving the president control over regulatory agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission (59%), and abolishing the U.S. Department of Education (57%). A majority also oppose changing the law to allow presidents to fire civil service workers for any reason (56%).
Democrats and Republicans are divided on most of Trump’s policies. Republicans are more likely to support than oppose 22 of the 30 policies asked about in the poll, while Democrats are more likely to oppose than support 29 of 30. Independents are more likely to oppose than support 22 of the 30 policies. To take one example of a partisan divide: While Republicans are 59 percentage points more likely to support than oppose banning the teaching of critical race theory in public schools and universities, Democrats are 47 points more likely to oppose it than to support it (+59 vs. -47 net support). Independents are 3 points more likely to support than oppose banning critical race theory in public schools.
Of the 30 proposed Trump policies in the poll, Republicans have the highest net support for banning hormonal or surgical treatment for transgender minors (+72) and building a wall that extends along the entire U.S.-Mexico border (+72). Net support is highest among Democrats for requiring asylum seekers from Latin America to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed in the U.S. (+1) and lowest for abolishing the U.S. Department of Education (-68) and withdrawing from the World Health Organization (-66). Independents are most supportive of requiring asylum seekers from Latin America to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed in the U.S. (+31 net support) and least supportive of cutting taxes on corporations (-46).
Republicans, Independents, and Democrats have similar net support for Trump’s proposals to give the president control over regulatory agencies such as the FCC and the FTC, set up tent cities to house homeless people and jail those who decline to go to the tent cities, and revise car pollution rules that would increase the share of vehicles sold in the U.S. that are electric. Each group is more likely to oppose than support these policies.
Trump's likely primary supporters favor even more of his proposed policies than do Republicans overall. Among registered voters who either identify as Republicans or are Independents who lean toward the Republican Party, those who support Trump in the 2024 Republican primary are more likely to support than oppose 27 of his 30 proposed policies polled about — compared to 23 among all likely Republican primary voters and 20 among those who don't plan to support Trump.
The only policies Trump's likely primary supporters are more likely to oppose than support are reversing car pollution rules that would increase the share of vehicles sold in the U.S. that are electric (-13 net support), setting up tent cities to house homeless people and jailing those who decline to go to the tent cities (-18), and giving the president control over regulatory agencies such as the FCC and the FTC (-36). Probable Trump primary supporters have the highest net support for banning hormonal or surgical treatment for transgender minors (+84) and passing a law establishing that only two genders, as determined at birth, are recognized by the U.S. (+83).
Likely Republican primary voters who prefer other candidates over Trump are less likely to support some of Trump’s proposed policies. For example, probable Republican primary voters who support Trump have higher net support for banning travel to the U.S. from many Muslim-majority countries (+47) than probable Republican primary voters who do not support Trump (+5). Trump supporters also have higher net support for sending U.S. troops into large U.S. cities to enforce public order (+21) and ending U.S. aid to Ukraine (+43) than do likely primary voters who don't support Trump, who are more likely to oppose than support sending U.S. troops into large U.S. cities (-25) and ending U.S. aid to Ukraine (-13).
In a separate poll, YouGov asked Americans which candidate in the Republican primary would do the best job handling a set of 16 policy issues were they to become president. (The poll also included Chris Christie as an option, as it was run before he withdrew his candidacy.) On every one of the 16 issues, Trump is the candidate seen as best equipped to handle it. More than one in three Americans think Trump would do the best job handling the economy (39%), immigration (39%), China (38%), and inflation (38%). Americans are least likely to see Trump as the best candidate to handle LGBTQ issues (24%) and the environment (26%).
Between 5% and 10% of Americans think Ron DeSantis would do the best job handling each of the 16 issues polled about, while between 6% and 13% think Haley would do the best job on each of these issues. Of the 16 policies, Americans are most likely to think DeSantis is the Republican primary candidate who would do the best job handling education (10%) and most likely to think Haley would do the best job handling abortion (13%). Between 22% and 31% of Americans think none of the Republican primary candidates would handle each of the 16 issues best, and another 18% to 25% are not sure for each issue.
A majority of the registered voters who either identify as Republicans or are Independents who lean toward the Republican Party think Donald Trump is the Republican primary candidate who would handle 15 of the 16 issues best as president. Likely Republican primary voters are most likely to think Trump is the best candidate to handle the economy (78%), inflation (76%), and China (74%). Only 48% think Trump would be the best Republican primary candidate to handle LGBTQ issues.
About DeSantis, 17% of likely Republican primary voters think DeSantis would be best on education, while 15% think he is best on crime, and 15% think he is best on guns. Of the 16 policies in the poll, likely Republican primary voters are most likely to see Haley as the best Republican primary candidate on abortion (14%), education (11%), and health care (11%). About one in five likely Republican primary voters are unsure which candidate would best handle each of two issues — the environment (20%) and LGBTQ issues (23%) — higher proportions than for the other 14 policies included in the poll.
— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for the YouGov poll on Trump proposals and Republican primary candidates
Methodology: The YouGov poll on Trump proposals was conducted on January 3 - 7, 2024. The YouGov poll on Republican primary candidates' handling of issues was conducted on January 5 - 9, 2024. Each was conducted online among 1,000 U.S. adult citizens. For each, respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel using sample matching. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample for each poll is approximately 4%.
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