With the Republican presidential primaries down to former president Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, what do Americans say about the two politicians and the differences between them? A recent YouGov poll asked Americans about the favorability of Trump and Haley and found that Trump leads in favorability and perceived ability to lead, despite being particularly unpopular among Democrats.
While about half of Americans have a somewhat or very unfavorable opinion of Trump and half feel the same way about Haley, a greater number hold a favorable view of Trump than of Haley, with more undecided about Haley than about Trump. Democrats are more likely than Independents and Republicans to have an unfavorable view of each Republican candidate — particularly about Trump: They are roughly four times as likely as Republicans to have an unfavorable view of Trump. The partisan gap is much narrower on Haley.
These results mirror those from a YouGov poll conducted in February 2023 that compared Donald Trump to Ron DeSantis — Trump’s top competitor until he dropped out of the race last month — and found a larger share had a favorable opinion of Trump than of his direct competitor.
For Americans, Trump and Haley have different strong suits. When asked for a head-to-head comparison between the two, 43% say Trump is a stronger leader, while only 11% say that Haley is the stronger leader of the two. Trump also beats Haley in terms of being more decisive, charismatic, and conservative as far as American opinion is concerned. By contrast, more Americans say that Haley is the more ethical, even-tempered, and willing to compromise of the two candidates than say that Trump is. About a quarter of Americans say each of the following: that neither Trump nor Haley is a strong leader (24%), compassionate (24%), or likely to care about their needs (28%).
Previously Trump also was seen as more charismatic and patriotic than DeSantis, as well as less willing to compromise. However, similar shares of Americans said Trump and DeSantis were qualified, and differences between Trump and DeSantis were overall smaller than those observed between Trump and Haley in the current poll.
The gaps between views of Trump's and Haley’s traits are wider for Republicans and Independents who lean toward the Republican Party. People in this group are more likely to attribute almost all of the qualities asked about to Trump. The exceptions are being even-tempered and open to compromise, where Haley has an edge.
Americans’ opinions on Trump being a stronger leader and more qualified than Haley are reflected in their opinions on who would do a better job handling some of the major issues the U.S. faces. Americans say that Trump would do a better job for each category polled, including immigration, the economy, guns, and health care. These results mirror those from the 2023 poll comparing Trump and DeSantis, but the difference between the share of Americans who say Trump would do a better job and the share who say his opponent would is larger when Haley — rather than DeSantis — is the opponent asked about.
As is the case for the two candidates’ qualities, the gap between Republicans and Independents who lean to the Republican Party who think Trump would do a better job at handling some of the major issues the U.S. is facing and those who think Haley would do a better job is wider than the equivalent gap for Americans overall. For each of the issues polled about, fewer than 15% of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents say Haley would do a better job than Trump would.
When it comes to their political ideology, 56% of Americans say Trump is conservative or very conservative, and 37% say the same about Haley. While Republicans are nearly evenly split as to whether Haley is conservative or moderate (31% vs. 32%), the majority of Democrats with an opinion say Haley is conservative.
About one-third (31%) of Americans say that Trump is too old to fulfill the duties of president if elected in 2024, but an even higher share (37%) say that his age is irrelevant. Republicans are more likely than Democrats and Independents to say that Trump’s age — 77 — is irrelevant. Only 2% of Americans say that Haley, age 52, is too old; 3% say she is too young to fulfill the duties of president.
When it comes to the candidates’ behavior toward each other, more Americans say it is fair than unfair for each of the candidates to criticize the other — by 43% to 34% for Trump criticizing Haley, and by 53% to 27% for Haley criticizing Trump. Whereas similar shares of Republicans say it is fair for each of the candidates to criticize the other, Democrats are more likely to say it is fair for Haley to criticize Trump than for Trump to criticize Haley.
However, most Americans — including 69% of Democrats and 60% of Republicans — say it is unfair for Trump to criticize Haley for being the child of immigrants, in particular.
Americans are more narrowly split on whether it is fair for Haley to criticize Trump for his age: 42% say it is unfair and 39% say it is fair. Republicans are more likely than Democrats and Independents to say that Haley criticizing Trump for his age is unfair.
See the results for this YouGov poll
— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,000 U.S. adult citizens from January 24 - 30, 2024. 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 is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty (Mark Wilson)
