This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers the state of the union, Trump's tariffs, federal funding cuts, relations with Ukraine and Russia, COVID, flu, and the measles.
The state of the union
- The latest Economist/YouGov poll — which concluded fielding just before Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress on March 4 — found that 38% of Americans planned to watch the speech, including 61% of Republicans and 20% of Democrats
- Last year, a similar share of Americans — 37% — said they planned to watch Biden's State of the Union address, including 33% of Republicans and 48% of Democrats
- How do Americans describe the current state of the union? 46% say it is very or somewhat weak, while 34% describe it as very or somewhat strong
- Americans are divided on Trump's job performance: 48% strongly or somewhat approve and 46% strongly or somewhat disapprove
- Of eight issues asked about this week, Americans are most likely to approve of Trump's handling of immigration (53% approve), and least likely to approve of his handling of civil liberties (39%) and health care (39%)
- More Americans think that the country's standing in the world has worsened since Trump became president than think it has improved (43% vs. 38%)
- Compared to the start of Trump's first term in April 2017, more Americans now say the country's standing has improved following the start of his second term (38% now vs. 26% in 2017)
- The share of Republicans who believe America's standing improved since the start of Trump's second term is 15 percentage points higher than the share who said so after the start of his first term (75% vs. 60%)
- Assessments of the country's standing at the start of Biden's term in April 2021 were more positive: 39% said America's standing had improved since he took office while 32% said it had worsened
- More Americans now say the economy has worsened since Trump took office in his second term than said so in April 2017 about his first term up to that point (37% vs. 22%)
- This is one question on which Republican perceptions regarding Trump have grown more negative compared to his first term: 43% of Republicans now say the economy has gotten better since Trump started his second term. In April 2017, 62% of Republicans believed the economy had improved after Trump took office. 73% of Democrats now say the economy has gotten worse compared to 39% who said so in 2017
- The media's standing among Americans is now significantly lower than it was after Trump first entered office eight years ago. Today, 48% of Americans consider the media an enemy or unfriendly to the American people, while 29% describe it as an ally or friendly; in March 2017, those figures were 37% and 45%, respectively
- The largest drop was among Democrats: 52% now describe the media as an ally or friendly, compared to 76% who did eight years ago
Trump's Tariffs
- Americans are more likely to oppose than support most of Trump's recent tariffs and tariff proposals, including…
- A 25% tariff on goods imported from Mexico (38% support vs. 47% oppose)
- A 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada (32% vs. 52%)
- A 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. (35% vs. 46%)
- A 25% tariff on goods imported from the European Union (33% vs. 49%)
- Support is higher than opposition for imposing a 10% tariff on goods imported from China (48% support vs. 35% oppose)
- Who ultimately bears the cost of tariffs on foreign imports? Far more Americans believe costs are mostly borne by companies and people in the U.S. than companies and people in countries exporting products (54% vs. 24%)
- Most Democrats (75%) expect the U.S. to bear most costs. Republicans are divided: 39% think the U.S. will and 40% think exporting countries will
- Two-thirds of Americans (68%) think that increasing tariffs on foreign imports results in higher prices; 8% think it has no effect and 5% think it decreases prices
- One in five Americans (19%) say they have or plan to make purchases because they expect prices will increase as a result of recent tariffs. This includes 27% of Democrats and 16% of Republicans
DOGE and funding cuts
- Americans are divided on Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE): 41% have a very or somewhat favorable opinion of it and 42% view it unfavorably
- This marks a 6 point increase in the share with unfavorable opinions of DOGE relative to two weeks ago; however, there has also been a 2 point increase in the share with favorable opinions of it
- Many Americans (41%) think the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the budgets and staff of federal agencies have gone too far; 24% think they have been about right, and 19% think they haven't gone far enough
- Far more Americans support increasing than decreasing funding for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Only 5%, 6%, and 12% respectively say they want these programs to be eliminated or have their funding reduced
- Many more Americans continue to say that Elon Musk is having a lot of influence on Trump's administration than say they want him to (65% vs. 17%). Views on Musk's influence have been relatively stable over the past couple of weeks
- As the justice system continues to weigh in on recent actions by the Trump administration, 52% of Americans say that federal courts should have the ability to overturn presidential orders. Far fewer — 25% — think federal courts should not have this ability
Relations with Russia and Ukraine
- Following last week's Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, more Americans strongly or somewhat disapprove of Trump's handling of the situation with Russia and Ukraine than approve of it (45% vs. 40%)
- Republican favorability of Zelensky remains low after a dramatic fall in the previous week. Democrats, on the other hand, have rallied behind Zelensky, and his favorability has increased significantly among them over the past week
- Americans continue to side with Ukraine (56%) over Russia (3%) in the conflict between the two countries; 31% say they take neither side
- 37% of Republicans take Ukraine's side in the conflict — a 10-point drop from last week
- A significant portion of Americans — 43% — think that Trump sympathizes more with Russia; only 10% believe he sides primarily with Ukraine and 29% say he sides with neither country
- 48% of Republicans believe that Trump doesn't side with either Ukraine or Russia, an increase of 11 points since last week; 15% think he sides with Russia and 17% think he sides with Ukraine
- More Americans expect Russia to win the war than think Ukraine will (30% vs. 13%); 13% think both sides are equally likely to win and 43% are unsure
- 35% of Americans support reducing U.S. military aid to Ukraine; 24% want aid to be increased and 20% want it to be kept the same
COVID, flu, and measles
- Most Americans (74%) believe that vaccines are generally very or somewhat safe. Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to believe this (90% vs. 58%)
- 42% of Americans say they've received a flu shot in the past year, including 60% of Democrats and 33% of Republicans
- 33% of Americans have received a COVID-19 vaccine in the past year, including 57% of Democrats and 19% of Republicans
- Americans are slightly more likely to say they're personally very or somewhat worried about themselves or someone in their household contracting the flu than COVID-19 (40% vs. 35%)
- Fewer — 26% — are very or somewhat concerned about themselves or someone they live with contracting measles
- 65% of Americans, including majorities of Democrats (69%) and Republicans (61%) say they've ever been vaccinated for measles
Throughout this report, some numbers may appear to be off by 1 because of rounding
See the toplines and crosstabs for the March 1 - 4, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,638 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 3.7%.
Image: Getty
What do you think about President Trump, American politics in general, and everything else? Have your say, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.
