This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers…
- The unpopularity of Trump's budget and the popularity of "Medicare for all"
- Negativity toward U.S. health care
- Uncertainty about the status of Trump's tariffs
- Stability in abortion opinion
The budget and health care
- 53% of Americans strongly or somewhat oppose Trump's budget, which was signed into effect earlier this week; 35% support it
- Opposition to the budget has risen 10 percentage points since we first asked about it in April of this year
- Just after Trump's budget was passed during his first term in 2017, it was opposed by a slightly smaller margin — 41% to 28% — than the margin against his current budget
- 52% of Americans — including 80% of Democrats and 22% of Republicans — believe the federal budget deficit will increase as a result of Trump's budget; 11% think it will remain the same and 19% think it will decrease
- 52% of Americans think the Trump administration's proposed budget will hurt the average American either a lot or a little; 28% think it will help them and 9% think it won't have much of an impact
- Compared to the budget's expected effects on the average American, slightly fewer — 42% — think it will hurt them and their immediate family; 24% think they will be helped by it and 18% think it won't affect them much
- Two-thirds (67%) of Americans expect that the budget will decrease funding for Medicaid, either by a lot or by some; 6% think it will increase Medicaid funding and 12% think it won't have much of an impact
- Republicans are far less likely than Democrats to anticipate Medicaid cuts as a result of the budget (49% vs. 87%)
- Very few Americans support reducing or eliminating funding for four social services asked about: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The greatest share, 20%, support cutting or eliminating SNAP funding
- Majorities want funding to be increased for Social Security (61%) and Medicare (56%), and sizable shares do as well for Medicaid (49%) and SNAP (41%)
- While a large majority of Democrats (81%) want Medicaid funding to be increased, Republicans are more divided: 22% want funding to be increased, 28% want it to stay the same, 30% want it to be decreased, and 5% want Medicaid to be eliminated entirely
- While Americans are generally supportive of Medicaid, about half (51%) strongly or somewhat support increasing work requirements for childless adults without disabilities to receive Medicaid; 33% are opposed to increasing work requirements
- Americans are twice as likely to support than oppose a system of "Medicare for all" (59% vs. 27%). Most Democrats (85%) would support this model; half (50%) of Republicans oppose it, but one-third (34%) are supportive
- More Americans have very or somewhat unfavorable than favorable views of the American health care system overall (56% vs. 33%). Twice as many Democrats view it unfavorably as favorably (63% vs. 31%), while Republicans are nearly evenly divided: 46% view it unfavorably and 45% view it favorably
- 37% of Americans with health insurance are very satisfied with their insurance. The share who are very satisfied is higher among people with coverage from Medicare (49%) or Medicaid (47%) than among people who have a plan through their employer or their spouse's employer (29%)
Tariffs
- Twice as many Americans would prefer for tariffs on foreign goods to be decreased as want them to be increased (40% vs. 20%); 22% want them to be kept the same
- Many Americans — 30% — are unsure how many of the tariffs announced by Trump earlier this year have actually been enacted
- 33% believe that few or none of Trump's tariffs have gone into effect, while 15% think about half of them have and 21% say all or most have
- Both Democrats and Republicans are somewhat more likely to say that few or none of the tariffs have been enacted than to say that all or most have
- More say their view is closer to the belief that tariffs "are harmful to the economy and consumers, with no real long-term benefits" than think "they may cause short-term economic pain, but they lead to long-term economic growth" (46% vs. 36%)
- 72% of Americans think that Trump's tariffs will increase the prices they pay, including 39% who expect they will increase prices a lot and 33% a little. Majorities of Democrats (90%) and Republicans (59%) think the tariffs will lead to price increases
- Only 5% of Americans — including 2% of Democrats and 9% of Republicans — expect tariffs will decrease prices
- Expected price changes due to tariffs are affecting some Americans' purchasing behaviors: 20% say that as a result, they plan to make a purchase now, and 24% say they will delay making a purchase
- Prices in general remain an important issue and an area of concern for many Americans
- 21% say inflation/prices is their most important issue, more than for any of the other 14 issues asked about
- Only 33% approve of Trump's handling of inflation/prices and 58% disapprove, his worst marks on an issue asked about regularly on the poll
- 45% of Americans say they have felt the impact of high inflation a lot in their lives, and 50% a little
- 43% expect a higher rate of inflation in six months; only 21% expect a lower rate
Abortion
- Few Americans (10%) say all abortions should be illegal, but the rest of the country is closely divided between three different positions on abortion: that it should always be legal (28%), that it should be legal but with some restrictions (30%), and that it should be legal only in special circumstances (32%)
- Women and younger adults are more likely to say abortion should be always legal than are men and older adults
- 52% of Democrats and 80% of Americans who identify as very liberal say abortion should always be legal; only 12% of Republicans and 25% of very conservative Americans say all abortions should be illegal
- Views on abortion policy have only moved slightly in the five years that Economist / YouGov Polls have been asking this question
- From July 2020 to today, the share of Americans who say abortion should be always legal has risen from 23% to 28%; the share who say it should be legal with restrictions has fallen slightly from 31% to 30%; the share who say it should be legal in special circumstances has risen slightly from 31% to 32%, and the share who say it should be illegal has fallen from 14% to 10%
- Americans are about twice as likely to strongly or somewhat support a nationwide right to an abortion than to support a nationwide abortion ban (52% vs. 22%)
- Democrats are twice as likely to support a national right to abortion as Republicans are to support a nationwide abortion ban (84% vs. 42%)
- More Republicans oppose than support a national abortion ban (51% vs. 42%)
- Americans are about twice as likely to support than oppose protections for abortion in their state constitutions (54% vs. 28%)
- Most Americans (65%) say people in states who restrict abortions should be able to travel to other states to have an abortion; 18% say this should not be allowed
- 34% of Americans approve of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade; 50% disapprove
— 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 July 4 - 7, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,528 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 4%.
Image: Getty (Samuel Corum / Stringer)
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