Americans are more likely to disapprove than approve of Donald Trump's handling of dozens of issues, a new survey finds. The survey measured opinions on 52 issues (each respondent was asked about a random sample of 26), and found that for 48 of the issues, Trump's net approval — meaning the share who strongly or somewhat approve of how he is handling the issue minus the share who disapprove — was negative.
Among the 52 issues on the survey, Trump performs worst on inflation/prices (-26 net approval), changes to geographic names (-21), federal workforce reductions (-17), relations with Canada (-16), presidential pardons (-16), and tariffs and trade (-15).
The only issues for which more Americans approve than disapprove of Trump's handling are crime (+9 net approval), border security (+4), national security (+1), and immigration (+1).
Net approval of Trump's handling of the presidency overall — without specifying an issue — is -10 on this survey, and has declined since the start of his term. His average net approval across the 52 issues in this survey is -9, similar to his overall net approval.
40 of the issues included in this week's survey were asked about on a survey conducted in early March, roughly seven weeks earlier. On this subset of issues, Trump's average net approval fell to -9 from -5 during this period. In the most recent survey, approval of his handling of the 40 issues ranged from -21 to +4; in March, it ranged from -20 to +19.
The largest shifts in opinion have been on issues Trump generally scores highest on — and had more room to fall. The average drop in net approval of the 20 issues he rated highest on in March was 7 points, compared to a drop of 2 points for the bottom 20 issues. Net approval declined most for the two issues for which he had the highest ratings in March: border security (to +4 from +19 in March) and deportation (to -2 from +15).
Other issues with a significant decline in net approval of Trump's handling during this period include transgender issues, use of executive orders, corruption, consumer protection, and federal workforce reductions.
There was only a significant (though small) increase in net approval of Trump's handling of two issues during this period: health care costs (to -8 from -14 in March) and cryptocurrency (to -7 from -12).
The survey also asked Americans how important each of the 52 issues are to them. Overall, there is not a strong correlation between an issue's perceived importance and net approval of Trump's handling of it. However, inflation/prices stands out on both measures: It is the issue Americans are most likely to say is very important to them, and also the one with Trump's lowest net approval.
There are strong correlations — in opposite directions — between the issues that Democrats and Republicans deem very important, and those for which they approve of Trump's handling. Many of the issues that Democrats care most about — such as health care costs and democracy — are those that they think Trump is doing worst on.
Among Republicans, net approval of Trump is generally highest for the issues they care most about, and lowest for those they care least about. Inflation/prices is one exception: It ranks third among issues Republicans say are very important but is in the bottom five in their net approval of Trump's handling.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to rate most issues as very important to them. Far more Democrats than Republicans say climate change and the environment, diversity, equity, and inclusion, women's rights, environmental regulations, and civil rights are very important. Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say border security is a very important issue to them, and somewhat more likely to say immigration, national debt, and government spending are.
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted online among 2,220 U.S. adult citizens on two separate surveys from April 25 - 29, 2025 and April 28 - May 2, 2025. 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%.
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