This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers how public opinion now differs from the start of Donald Trump's first term, the president's policies and appointments, and the economy.
The start of Trump's terms: 2025 vs. 2017
- Republican support for Trump heading into his second term is far more solidified than it was when he first took office in 2017: This time around, more approve of his handling of the presidency, view him as a strong leader, and expect he will improve the country's standing around the world
- 94% of Republicans strongly or somewhat approve of how Trump is handling his job as president one week in, while 2% strongly or somewhat disapprove
- That compares to 81% of Republicans approving of Trump in January 2017, while 9% disapproved
- In Joe Biden's first week as president in 2021, 89% of Democrats approved of his job performance and 5% disapproved
- About half of Americans (52%) say they watched or heard at least part of Trump's inauguration speech this year; far more Republicans (77%) than Democrats (36%) tuned in
- Slightly more Americans overall — 60% — said they watched Trump's first inauguration in 2017, an Economist/YouGov poll at the time found
- Americans who watched Trump's recent inauguration speech last week rated it more highly than viewers of his 2017 speech evaluated it at the time: 62% say the recent speech was outstanding or above average, compared to 49% of speech-watchers in 2017
- This is in part because viewers of Trump's 2025 speech are less likely to be Democrats than were viewers of his 2017 speech. But positive evaluations among Republican viewers also increased: 90% say Trump's latest speech was above average or outstanding, compared to 75% who said so in 2017
- 68% of Americans who watched Trump's inauguration speech describe it as optimistic, while 19% say it was pessimistic. His 2017 speech was perceived at the time as optimistic by fewer watchers (58%) than for the latest speech and as pessimistic by more watchers (27%)
- Americans are divided in their expectations of how respect for the U.S. around the world will change in the next four years: 40% think the U.S. will be more respected four years from now and 38% think it will be less respected. At the start of Trump's first term in 2017, Americans were somewhat less likely to expect an increase (31%) than a decrease (41%) in global respect for the country during his term
- Most Americans (59%) expect that in four years, there will be fewer illegal immigrants in the U.S. than there are now. In January 2017, slightly fewer — 48% — anticipated a decrease in illegal immigrants in Trump's first term
- More Americans now say that Trump is a very strong leader (43%) than said so at the start of his first term (32%). This increase has primarily been among Republicans, to 81% from 61%
- Perceptions of Trump's ideology have changed significantly since he first became president eight years ago. Far more now view him as very conservative (32% vs. 13%), and fewer now view him as moderate (14% vs. 20%)
- The share of Democrats characterizing Trump as very conservative has more than doubled since the start of his first term, to 46% from 19%
- More Republicans also now classify Trump as very conservative than did in 2017 (29% vs. 13%)
- More Americans now think that Trump's business interests and positions will affect his decision-making as president "a lot" than believed this would be the case just before he took office for the first time in 2017 (46% vs. 37%)
- The largest shift in views on this topic is among Democrats, who are far more likely now than in 2017 to say Trump's business interests will strongly affect his presidential decision-making (76% vs. 56%)
Trump's appointments and agenda
- Few of the people Trump has appointed to positions within his administration who were included in this week's poll are viewed favorably by the public. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is the most well-liked among those asked about. His net favorability — meaning the share of Americans who view him very or somewhat favorably minus the share who view him unfavorably — is +7
- This marks a decline from the first Economist/YouGov poll to ask about Kennedy in April 2023, when his net favorability was +20. At that point he was similarly well-liked among Republicans (+19) and Democrats (+17). Since then, opinions of him have improved greatly among Republicans (+61) and worsened sharply among Democrats (-44)
- Opinions on Elon Musk — whom Trump has tapped to lead a government efficiency effort — also have polarized over time: Of the appointees polled, Musk is currently the one viewed most favorably by Republicans (+64) and least favorably by Democrats (-66)
- Fewer than half of Americans have an opinion of Linda McMahon — Trump's pick to lead the Department of Education — and opinions of her are among the least politically polarized
- The policies Trump either has emphasized or has taken steps to implement since taking office last week are highly divisive: All are backed by most Republicans, and nearly all are rejected by most Democrats
- Of the 13 policies asked about in the latest poll, more Americans support than oppose proposals to:
- Delay the enforcement of a federal ban on TikTok for at least 75 days (40% strongly or somewhat support vs. 28% who strongly or somewhat oppose)
- Require all federal workers to work in person rather than remotely (48% vs. 37%)
- Arrest and deport millions of illegal immigrants (50% vs. 41%)
- Revoke a goal of having 50% of U.S. vehicle sales be electric by 2030 (44% vs. 39%)
- Trump's policies included in our poll which have more opposition than support are those to:
- Withdraw from the World Health Organization (33% support vs. 52% oppose)
- Pardon participants in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol (33% vs. 53%)
- Abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and making states responsible for disaster response (32% vs. 51%)
- End the automatic granting of citizenship to children born in the U.S. to non-citizens (37% vs. 51%)
- Impose a 25% tariff on goods imported from Mexico and Canada (35% vs. 48%)
- Withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords (34% vs. 44%)
- Seek ownership of the Panama Canal (34% vs. 44%)
- Majorities of Republicans support all 13 of Trump's policies included in the survey; no more than one-third of Democrats support any of them
- The Trump policy that Democrats are most likely to support — establishing an AI infrastructure commission — is also the least likely to be supported by Republicans
The economy
- 37% of U.S. adult citizens say the U.S. economy is getting worse, while 19% say it's getting better
- That's similar to the results of last week's Economist / YouGov Poll, fielded primarily while Biden was still president: 36% said the economy was getting worse and 19% said it was getting better
- But those stable topline numbers reflect dramatic changes in how Democrats and Republicans view the economy
- Last week, 25% of Democrats said the economy was getting better and 33% said it was getting worse. This week, 10% of Democrats say the economy is getting better and 50% say it's getting worse
- Sentiments among Republicans have gone from 23% saying the economy is "getting better" and 33% saying "getting worse" last week to 35% saying "getting better" and 16% saying "getting worse" this week
Throughout this report, some numbers may appear to be off by 1 because of rounding
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the toplines and crosstabs for the January 26 - 28, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,577 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 (Anna Moneymaker / Staff)
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