A new YouGov survey explored which of 20 issues Americans are most likely to say they trust Donald Trump to handle as president, and which of 20 descriptors they think apply to him.
52% of Americans say they trust Trump a lot to handle immigration as president. 46% trust him a lot to handle the economy, 45% trust him a lot to handle foreign policy, and 43% trust him a lot to handle foreign trade.
The issues Americans are most likely to say they don’t at all trust Trump to handle are LGBTQ issues (51%), transgender issues (50%), the environment (49%), and race relations (49%).
Majorities of Republicans say they trust Trump a lot to handle all 20 of the issues asked about. The issues for which they’re most likely to place a lot of trust in his handling are the economy at 87%, though this is down from 94% who said this in November 2024. Large majorities also trust him a lot to handle immigration (87%, down from 92% in November) and foreign policy (84%).
The issues Republicans are most likely to have no trust in Trump to handle are LGBTQ issues (19% have no trust at all in his handling of this) and transgender issues (15%).
Majorities of Democrats say they do not trust Trump at all to handle any of the 20 issues asked about. 84% do not trust him at all to handle race relations and 81% don’t trust him at all to handle LGBTQ issues.
The issues Democrats are most likely to place a lot of trust in Trump to handle are immigration (19% trust him a lot to handle this), the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (13%), and foreign trade (12%).
Among the biggest differences in Trump trust between men and women: 44% of women and 31% of men don’t trust Trump at all to handle immigration. 43% of women and 31% of men don’t trust him at all to handle crime. Other issues on which women are more likely than men to say they don’t trust Trump at all to handle: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict (44% of women and 32% of men), foreign trade (46% and 34%), taxes (47% and 35%), and Social Security (47% and 36%).
The description Americans are most likely to say applies to Trump a lot — from a list of 20 included in the survey — is opportunistic: 58% say it describes him a lot. A majority (54%) say the word arrogant describes him a lot, and 47% say the same about "divisive."
The words Americans are most likely to say do not describe the president at all, among the 20 provided, are compassionate (50%), honest (46%), and ineffective (45%).
The provided descriptor that Republicans are most likely to say applies to Trump a lot is a "strong leader," though fewer say this now (84%) than did in November 2024 (93%).
Other descriptors that large majorities of Republicans say describe the president a lot are intelligent (84%, down from 90% in November), qualified (84%), and competent (80%).
Among Democrats, 81% say "arrogant" describes Trump a lot; majorities say the same about the adjectives corrupt (79%), reckless (78%), and dishonest (78%).
Among Republicans, 79% say the word ineffective doesn’t describe the president at all and 74% say the same about "uninformed." 83% of Democrats say "compassionate" doesn’t describe Trump at all; 80% say the word honest doesn’t apply to him at all.
Related:
- Where Americans draw the line on presidential behavior
- What Americans think about Donald Trump's second term
- Comparing the start of Donald Trump's first and second terms, policy, and the economy: January 26-28, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
See the results for this YouGov survey
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted January 24 - 28, 2025 among 1,132 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. 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 4%.
Image: Getty (Anna Moneymaker / Staff)
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