Economist/YouGov polls from the last two weeks cover the new Congress, the new presidential administration, MAGA Republicans, Jan. 6, election legitimacy, and the year ahead.
All findings are from the Dec. 29 - 31, 2024 poll unless otherwise noted
The new Congress
- Only 5% of Americans say Congress accomplished more than usual in its most recent session, while 28% say it accomplished less
- 32% expect the next Congress to accomplish more than usual, including 10% of Democrats and 64% of Republicans
- 67% of Democrats would like Democrats in Congress to work with Donald Trump on policies they personally agree with once he is again president; only 15% want Congressional Democrats to oppose all Trump policies
- After the battle over a new spending bill, the percentage of Republicans who strongly or somewhat approve of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s job performance dropped to 49% from 60% three weeks earlier
- Incoming Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune is unknown to half of Republicans; 32% have strong or somewhat favorable opinions of him while 16% view him unfavorably
- Thune's Republican predecessor Mitch McConnell is viewed favorably by 24% of Republicans and unfavorably by 57%
The new administration
- About half (51%) of Americans are enthusiastic or satisfied with Trump's upcoming presidency, including 94% of Republicans who are enthusiastic (76%) or satisfied but not enthusiastic (18%)
- Most Americans (57%) prefer a president who is willing to compromise to get things done while 43% prefer a president who sticks to their principles, no matter what
- Among Republicans, 41% prefer a president who is willing to compromise to get things done while 59% prefer a president who sticks to their principles, no matter what
- Elon Musk, co-head with Vivek Ramaswamy of the external Trump-created Department of Government Efficiency, is viewed favorably by 48% of Americans, including 18% of Democrats and 83% of Republicans
- Musk is especially well-liked by Republicans who identify with MAGA, or Make America Great Again: 91% view Musk favorably while 4% view him unfavorably
- Ramaswany is less well-known than Musk; 61% of Republicans have favorable views of him and 11% view him unfavorably
MAGA Republicans
- About half (53%) of Republicans identify as MAGA Republicans; 38% say they are not, and 9% aren’t sure
- Immigration ranks first for MAGA Republicans: 30% say it is their most important issue, ahead of inflation/prices (28%) and jobs and the economy (15%)
- Non-MAGA Republicans are more focused on the economy: 26% say inflation is the most important issue for them, followed by jobs and the economy (16%) and immigration (14%)
- Non-MAGA Republicans are twice as likely as MAGA Republicans to see taxes and government spending as most important (13% to 7%)
Ranking presidents
- A question about every president starting with Richard Nixon finds that none are expected to go down in history as outstanding or above average by a majority of Americans
- Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama come closest: Each one's legacy is rated as outstanding or above average by 47% of Americans
- Reagan is rated highly by 28% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans
- Obama is rated highly by 81% of Democrats and 19% of Republicans
- Party divisions in evaluations of presidents' legacies are strongest for Trump and Joe Biden: 57% of Democrats say Trump will go down in history as a poor president while 69% of Republicans say Biden will be thought of as a poor president; few from either party say their party's president's legacy will be poor or that the other's is good
- About as many say that as a president, Jimmy Carter will go down in history as outstanding or above average as say he will go down as below average or poor (29% vs. 28%)
January 6, 2021
- 46% of Americans see the Capitol takeover four years ago more as a violent insurrection than as legitimate political discourse while 29% see it more as legitimate political discourse
- 78% of Democrats and 20% of Republicans see it more as a violent insurrection
- 15% of Americans approve of the January 6th Capitol takeover, including 9% of Democrats and 27% of Republicans
- 33% of Americans — including 7% of Democrats and 63% of Republicans — strongly or somewhat support pardoning people who participated in the takeover, something Trump has promised
- 49% of Americans say Trump has some or a lot of responsibility for the Jan. 6 Capitol takeover — including 83% of Democrats and 17% of Republicans
- 37% of Americans think Trump did something illegal around the events of Jan. 6 — including 70% of Democrats and 6% of Republicans
Election legitimacy
- While 68% of Democrats say Trump legitimately won the 2024 election, only 29% of Republicans say that Biden legitimately won the 2020 election
- Most Americans (55%) have a great deal or quite a bit of confidence that the 2024 election was held fairly, including 43% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans
- 44% of Americans would rather replace the Electoral College with election by popular vote, while 36% would prefer to stick to the Electoral College
- Democrats, whose presidential candidates lost the Electoral College while winning the popular vote in 2000 and 2016, are far more likely to prefer to ditch the Electoral College than to stick with it (66% vs. 16%)
The year ahead
- A series of questions on the December 21 - 24, 2024 poll asked about Americans' views of the past year and the year ahead
- 45% of Americans are very or somewhat optimistic about the next year for the world, while 30% are pessimistic
- About half (51%) are optimistic about 2025 for their own family and 21% are pessimistic
- Large majorities of Republicans are optimistic about 2025 for the world (77%) and for their own family (75%); only 27% of Democrats are optimistic about 2025 for the world and 40% for their family
When Biden was set to take over from Trump in 2021, Democrats were more optimistic than Republicans about the year ahead
- Just about half of Americans — including similar shares of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans — say that politics became more negative in 2024
- 31% of Americans — including 50% of Democrats, 31% of Independents, and 12% of Republicans — expect that politics will become even more negative in 2025
- 26% of Americans expect more political violence this year, including 42% of Democrats, 26% of Independents, and 9% of Republicans
Throughout this report, some numbers may appear to be off by 1 because of rounding
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
See the toplines and crosstabs for the December 29 - 31, 2024 Economist/YouGov Poll — and the toplines and crosstabs for the December 21 - 24, 2024 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The December 29 - 31, 2024 poll was conducted among 1,552 U.S. adult citizens. The December 21 - 24, 2024 poll was conducted among 1,582 U.S. adult citizens. For both polls, respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. 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, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample for each poll is approximately 3.5%
Image: Getty (Kent Nishimura / Stringer)
What do you think about the election, American politics in general, and everything else? Have your say, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.
