Findings from the latest Economist/YouGov poll about:
- How much Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen in the past month
- Whether Americans think Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be returned to the U.S. from El Salvador
- One issue where Americans think Trump is doing worse than they did at this stage of his first term
- How many people agree with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s claim that water fluoridation lowers IQ
Trump's rising unpopularity
- Americans are quickly souring on Donald Trump's handling of his job as president
- 54% strongly or somewhat disapprove and 41% approve
- As recently as one month ago, more Americans approved than disapproved of Trump's job performance
- In that time, the share approving of Trump's job handling has fallen from 93% to 86% among Republicans, from 40% to 30% among Independents, and from 10% to 7% among Democrats
- Trump's approval is underwater among 18- to 29-year-olds (33% approve vs. 57% disapprove), 30- to 44-year-olds (35% vs. 58%), 45- to 64-year-olds (47% vs. 50%) and adults 65 and older (47% vs. 52%)
- More Americans disapprove than approve of Trump's job managing the economy
- 41% approve and 53% disapprove
- His net approval of -12 on jobs and the economy is the worst Americans have ever rated Trump's handling of these issues as president; Americans were more likely to approve than disapprove of it throughout Trump's first term
Immigration
- While Americans have been growing more critical of Trump's handling of the economy for weeks now, this week's poll also shows Trump underwater on an issue where he was previously popular: immigration
- 45% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling immigration, while 50% disapprove, a net approval of -5
- That's down from 50% approval and 44% disapproval — a net approval of +6 — on Trump's handling of immigration when it was last asked about two weeks ago
- The drop comes as Americans are more likely to side against Trump on the highest-profile immigration case over the past week: that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was recently deported to El Salvador despite a court order prohibiting his deportation. 50% of Americans say Trump should bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., and 28% say he shouldn't
- Democrats overwhelmingly say Trump should bring back Abrego Garcia (87% vs. 6%), while Independents do so by a two-to-one margin (50% vs. 23%). Republicans are more likely to oppose Abrego Garcia's return (17% vs. 54%)
- College graduates overwhelmingly support Abrego Garcia's return (61% vs. 26%), and non-college graduates are more likely to support his return than not (45% vs. 29%)
- 27% of Americans say Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, as Trump has alleged, while 30% say he isn't, and 43% aren't sure
- 49% of Americans say Trump's approach to immigration has been too harsh, while 38% say it's been about right and just 5% say it's been too soft
- Americans overwhelmingly say the government should "try to solve problems carefully… even if that means they might solve the problem more slowly" (81%) than that government "should try to solve problems as quickly as possible, even if that means they make more mistakes" (19%)
- The negative views about Trump's handling of immigration come among a populace that views immigration's effects more positively than Americans did during Joe Biden's term
- 40% of Americans say immigration makes the U.S. better off, while 29% say it makes the U.S. worse off and 19% say it doesn't make much difference
- Before Trump's inauguration on January 20, Americans for years were more likely to say immigration made the U.S. worse off than better off
Trump's first 100 days
- Trump's second term is nearly 100 days old, a traditional moment for taking stock of presidential terms. This week YouGov re-asked questions it asked Americans in spring 2017 about Trump's first term
- Overall, Americans are more likely today to say Trump has performed a little or a lot worse than they expected than they were in 2017 (46% vs. 31%)
- Republicans view Trump's performance similarly in 2025 to how they did in 2017, but Democrats and Independents are significantly more negative than they were eight years ago
- In 2017, 41% of Democrats and 17% of Independents said Trump had performed a lot worse than expected; today 64% of Democrats and 38% of Independents do. The changes have come largely at the expense of the shares who say his term has proceeded as they expected — there has been little change in how many Democrats and Independents say Trump has exceeded their expectations
- A lot of that rise in negative sentiment has to do with the economy, where today 57% of U.S. adult citizens say Trump's actions have hurt the nation, compared to 29% at this point in Trump's first term
- On the issues of foreign policy, health care, and Trump's behavior in the White House, there's little difference between how Americans saw the national effects of Trump's actions in 2017 and how they see them in 2025
- Democrats (52% in 2017 and 89% in 2025), Independents (23% vs. 58%) and Republicans (9% vs. 25%) are each more likely to say Trump's actions on the economy are hurting the nation than they were eight years ago
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
- Americans are more likely to disapprove (43%) than approve (36%) of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s job performance as Secretary of Health and Human Services
- Most Democrats disapprove of Kennedy (13% approve vs. 74% disapprove) and most Republicans approve (70% vs. 12%)
- Independents are more likely to disapprove (45%) than approve (26%)
- Americans without college degrees are split about evenly (36% approve vs. 38% disapprove), while a majority of Americans with college degrees disapprove (36% vs. 53%)
- YouGov asked Americans about four controversial health statements Kennedy has made over the years. One — that "ultra-processed food is driving the obesity epidemic" — is seen as definitely or probably true by 73% of Americans. But only minorities of Americans believe Kennedy statements about water fluoridation, the COVID-19 vaccine, and autism
- 28% say the COVID-19 vaccine is "the deadliest vaccine ever created," while 55% say that's false
- 22% of Americans say it's definitely or probably true that water fluoridation reduces children's IQs, while 49% say that's false
- 22% say it's true that vaccines cause autism, while 54% say it's false
- On each of the three statements, most Democrats say it is false, as do more Independents than say it is true; Republicans are closely divided on each
- 44% of Americans say Kennedy follows the science when it comes to vaccines, while 56% say he rejects the science
— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
Throughout this report, some numbers may appear to be off by 1 because of rounding
See the toplines and crosstabs for the April 19 - 22, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,625 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 3.3%.
Image: Getty (Anna Moneymaker / Staff)
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