Immigration, terrorism, TikTok, and health care: January 5-8, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll

This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers immigration, terrorism, TikTok, and health care.

Immigration

• Americans are divided over immigration, without a clear majority wanting to either increase or decrease legal immigration
• 31% of Americans say immigration makes the U.S. better off, while 34% say it makes it worse off; 21% say it doesn't make much difference, and 14% aren't sure
• Few Americans (17%) want to increase legal immigration to the U.S.
  • 41% say they would either decrease (31%) or eliminate (10%) legal immigration
  • 28% say they would keep it unchanged
• Among Republicans, majorities hold a range of anti-immigration views: 62% of Republicans say immigration makes the U.S. worse off, and 62% say legal immigration to the U.S. should either be decreased (41%) or reduced to zero (21%)
• The share of Republicans saying immigration makes the U.S. worse off has risen from 43% in January 2018

• Americans have no consensus about the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. employers to temporarily hire foreign workers for certain specialized jobs: 17% would increase the number of H-1B visas, 27% would decrease them (20%) or reduce them to zero (7%), 34% would leave the number unchanged, and 22% aren't sure
• Democrats are more likely to support increasing the number of H-1B visas, and Republicans to support decreasing them, but in neither party does a majority back either approach
  • Half (49%) of self-identified MAGA Republicans want to decrease or eliminate H-1B visas, compared to 24% of non-MAGA Republicans

Terrorism

• Most Americans are concerned about terrorism: 40% say it poses an immediate and serious threat to the U.S., 37% say it poses a somewhat serious threat, and only 15% say it poses a minor threat or no threat at all
  • Republicans are more likely to be concerned about terrorism than Democrats or Independents: 59% of Republicans say terrorism poses an immediate and serious threat, compared to 29% of Democrats and 33% of Independents
  • Older Americans are more likely to say they're concerned about terrorism than younger Americans. 49% of Americans 65 or older say terrorism poses an immediate and serious threat, compared to 26% of adults under 30 — many of whom weren't yet born on Sept. 11, 2001

• A majority (53%) of Americans say the U.S. should be doing more to fight terrorism
  • 25% say the U.S. is doing enough, and only 6% say it's doing too much
• Americans are more likely to say Donald Trump's policies will make the U.S. more safe from terrorism (41%) than that they'll make it less safe (28%) or will make no difference (13%)
  • Most Republicans (80%) say Trump's policies will make the U.S. safer from terrorism, while just 3% say they'll make the U.S. less safe
  • Among Democrats, 10% say Trump's policies will make the U.S. safer and 57% say they'll make the U.S. less safe
  • Democrats who say terrorism is an immediate and serious threat to the U.S. are about as likely to say Trump's policies will make the U.S. less safe from terrorism (60%) as are those who say terrorism is less of a threat or not a threat (57%)

TikTok

• Twice as many Americans support (44%) as oppose (22%) a law banning TikTok in the U.S. unless the social media app's Chinese owners sell the company to a U.S.-approved owner
  • Republicans and older Americans are more likely to support this law than Democrats, Independents, and younger adults
• Across the political spectrum, young adults are far less likely than older people to support a TikTok ban
  • Among Democrats, 26% of adults under 30 and 50% of adults 65 and older support the law forcing TikTok to sell or be banned
  • Among Independents, support is 22% for adults under 30 and 57% for adults 65 and older
  • Among Republicans, support is 36% for adults under 30 and 67% for adults 65 and older

• Fewer Americans say TikTok is a national security threat to the U.S. than said so two years ago
  • In March 2023, 44% of U.S. adult citizens — including 60% of Republicans and 36% of Democrats — said TikTok poses a national security threat
  • Today those numbers have fallen to 34% of U.S. adult citizens, 44% of Republicans, and 26% of Democrats

• There's no consensus among Americans about Donald Trump's position on the law requiring TikTok to be sold or banned. 55% of U.S. adult citizens aren't sure whether Trump supports the law; the rest are split, with 25% of all Americans saying Trump supports it and 20% saying Trump opposes it
  • "Not sure" is the most common response among Democrats (47%), Independents (63%), and Republicans (53%)
• Republicans who support banning TikTok are more likely than those who don't to view Donald Trump as also supporting a ban (39% vs. 21%)

Health care

• Most Americans trust their own doctors for medical advice (80% trust "a lot" or "somewhat"), but trust is lower for other potential sources of medical advice
  • 60% of Americans trust medical researchers for medical advice, 55% trust the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and 51% trust public health officials
    • In all three cases, Republicans are less likely than Democrats to say they trust those sources for medical advice; fewer than half of Republicans say they trust each source
  • Just 28% of Americans say they trust medical advice from pharmaceutical companies

• Each of six prominent figures is trusted by fewer Americans for medical advice than the share who distrust them:
  • President Joe Biden (27% trust / 50% distrust)
  • President-elect Donald Trump (28% / 47%)
  • Doctor, TV personality, and nominated CDC director Mehmet Oz (18% / 35%)
  • Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (27% / 40%)
  • Outgoing Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra (8% / 14%)
  • Former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci (33% / 34%)
• A majority of Americans (53%) say the party of the president doesn't affect how much they trust medical advice from public health agencies
  • But 48% of Democrats and 40% of Republicans say they're more likely to trust guidance from public health agencies if the president is of their own party

• Overall, 21% of Americans say they'd be more likely to follow guidance from public health agencies if Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., becomes Secretary of Health and Human Services while 29% say they'd be less likely to follow guidance and 33% say it would make no difference
  • 9% of Democrats say Kennedy's confirmation would make them more likely to trust health guidance, while 57% say it would make them less likely. Among Republicans, 37% say they would become more likely to trust health guidance, and 7% say they would be less likely
  • Among Americans who say the president's party doesn't affect how much they trust public health guidance, 53% of Democrats and 31% of Republicans say that if Kennedy were confirmed it would affect their trust
• 38% of Americans say vaccines are generally very safe, while 36% say they're somewhat safe. 12% of Americans say they're not very safe and 7% say they're not at all safe
  • Democrats are more likely to view vaccines as very safe (60%) than are Independents (34%) and Republicans (19%)
  • Among Republicans, self-identified MAGA Republicans are less likely to view vaccines as very safe (14%) than are non-MAGA Republicans (29%)

• People who follow the news more often are more likely to say vaccines are very safe than people who rarely follow the news
  • This is true within political groupings: Democrats, Independents, and Republicans who follow the news closely are more likely to view vaccines as very safe

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 January 5 - 8, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll

Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,704 U.S. adult citizens. 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 is approximately 3%

Image: Getty (Samuel Corum / Stringer)

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