This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers…
- Donald Trump's approval hitting a new low
- How support for bombing Iran changed immediately after Trump announced the U.S. attack
- Which policies in Trump's budget Americans support and oppose
- Whether more Americans support the military parade or the No Kings protests
Donald Trump's popularity
- 40% of U.S. adult citizens strongly or somewhat approve of President Donald Trump's job performance, and 54% strongly or somewhat disapprove
- Trump's net approval of -14 is the lowest in his second term, and is also lower than Trump's net approval during most of his first term
- Americans are more likely to disapprove than approve of how Trump is handling national security (-2 net approval), immigration (-4), jobs and the economy (-12), foreign policy (-14), foreign trade (-16), the conflict between Israel and Iran (-17), and inflation/prices (-26)
- In the previous week, Trump's net approval on Iran was -4
- Trump's net approval on selected key issues has declined since the start of his second term
Iran
- This week's Economist / YouGov Poll was in the field when Trump announced Saturday evening that the U.S. had bombed nuclear sites in Iran
- Because the survey was launched before Trump announced the attack, it does not contain questions asking if Americans support or oppose the attack. Separate YouGov polling found more Americans oppose than support the U.S. bombing of nuclear facilities in Iran
- 37% of respondents began taking the survey before Trump's announcement, and 63% began after the announcement
- Answers to a question about general support for the U.S. military bombing Iranian nuclear facilities revealed a striking difference between Americans who took the survey before Trump's announcement and those who took it after
- Before the announcement, 34% of Republicans supported bombing Iranian nuclear facilities — but 70% supported such bombing after the announcement
- Before the announcement, 34% of Republicans were not sure about attacking Iranian nuclear facilities; afterwards, only 13% were
- Before the announcement, 56% of Democrats said the U.S. should not bomb Iranian nuclear facilities; afterwards, 74% said the U.S. should not
- Before the announcement, 34% of Republicans supported bombing Iranian nuclear facilities — but 70% supported such bombing after the announcement
- Before the announcement, 57% of Republicans strongly or somewhat approved of how Trump was handling the conflict between Israel and Iran; after it, 82% of Republicans approved
- The poll also found a major split among Republicans between the 48% who want the U.S. to take an active part in world affairs and the 31% who want the U.S. to stay out of world affairs
- 75% of Republicans who want the U.S. to take an active part in world affairs say the U.S. should bomb Iranian nuclear facilities, compared to 35% of Republicans who want the U.S. to stay out of world affairs
- This split — that more-interventionist Republicans are about twice as likely to support bombing Iranian nuclear facilities as more-isolationist Republicans — holds true among Republicans both before and after Trump announced the U.S. attack
- There is a similar split among Independents: Those who are more interventionist are about twice as likely as those who are more isolationist to support bombing Iranian nuclear facilities (33% vs. 16%)
- There is very little difference in views on bombing Iran between the 45% of Democrats who support playing an active part in the world and the 34% who want the U.S. to stay out of world affairs
- Americans who are more concerned about Iran's nuclear program are more likely to support bombing Iran's nuclear facilities
- Among the 26% of Americans who say Iran's nuclear program poses an immediate and serious threat to the U.S., 56% say the U.S. should bomb Iranian nuclear facilities and 26% say it shouldn't
- 27% of those who say Iran poses a somewhat serious threat to the U.S. support bombing, as do 23% of those who say it poses a minor threat and 4% of those who say Iran is not a threat
- Majorities of Americans correctly identify the U.S., Russia, China, and North Korea as countries that currently have nuclear weapons
- 43% correctly identify the United Kingdom as a nuclear power, as do 39% for India and 37% for France
- 47% of Americans say Israel has nuclear weapons; Israel is widely reported to have nuclear weapons but has never formally acknowledged having them
- 28% believe Iran currently has nuclear weapons; there is no known evidence that it does
- 50% of Americans say none of those countries, nor any of Germany, South Korea, and Ukraine, should be allowed to have nuclear weapons
- 32% of Americans say the U.S. should be allowed to have nuclear weapons; 20% say the UK should and 15% say the same for each of Israel and France
Trump's budget
- More Americans strongly or somewhat oppose Trump's proposed budget than support it (31% support / 49% oppose)
- Almost all Democrats oppose Trump's budget (2% / 85%)
- Twice as many Independents oppose it as support it (24% / 51%)
- Most Republicans support the budget (66% / 13%), but a smaller share of Republicans support it than the share of Democrats who oppose it
- Last week, 35% supported the budget and 51% opposed it
- Republicans are divided between sizable groups who say Trump's budget will increase the federal budget deficit (26%), not affect the deficit much (22%), or decrease the deficit (31%)
- Most Democrats say the budget will increase the deficit rather than decrease it (72% / 4%), and Independents are far more likely to say it will increase the deficit than to decrease it (44% / 14%)
- Republicans who believe the budget will increase the deficit are less likely to support it than Republicans who say it will decrease the deficit
- Among Republicans who say the budget will increase the deficit, 58% support the budget and 37% oppose it
- Among Republicans who say the deficit will remain the same, 67% support the budget and 8% oppose it
- Among Republicans who say the budget will decrease the deficit, 91% support it and 3% oppose it
- Some policies in Trump's proposed budget are popular, including reducing taxes on Social Security income (71% support / 12% oppose) and ending taxes on tips (68% / 15%)
- Among the least popular of the 13 budget policies the Economist and YouGov asked about are ending renewable energy tax credits (31% / 47%), reducing funding for the U.S. Department of Education (30% / 56%), reducing funding for scientific and health research (23% / 64%), and reducing funding for food assistance (22% / 64%)
Protests and parades
- 44% of Americans strongly or somewhat support the nationwide No Kings protests on June 14; 40% oppose them
- Most Americans (56%) say participants in the No Kings protests were mostly peaceful; 16% say they were mostly violent
- 46% support the U.S. Army’s military parade on June 14; 36% oppose
- 25% said the parade made them feel patriotic, 22% said proud, 18% said ashamed, and 17% said disappointed
- Americans are split on whether the U.S. government should or should not host more such military parades in the future: 40% say it should and 44% say it shouldn't
— 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 June 20 - 23, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,590 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 3.5%.
Image: Getty (Chip Somodevilla / Staff)
What do you really think about President Trump, American politics in general, and everything else? Share your reality, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.
