This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers…
- How inflation is still Americans' top issue
- A country split over deploying troops to U.S. cities
- Whether Trump should — and does — retaliate against his political enemies
- How many Americans know what the Federal Reserve does
- The share who want a new COVID shot
Top issues
- Americans are most likely to name inflation/prices (24%) and jobs and the economy (14%) as their most important issues
- The share of Americans citing immigration as their top issue has declined from 16% in March 2024 to 7% today
- Democrats, Independents, and Republicans are all most likely to name inflation/prices as their most important issue
- Democrats are most likely to name inflation (18%), health care (16%), and jobs and the economy (13%) as their top issues
- Independents are most likely to name inflation (28%), jobs and the economy (14%), and civil rights (9%)
- Republicans are most likely to name inflation (26%), jobs and the economy (16%), and immigration (13%)
- Civil rights has become the most important issue of a greater share of Americans since the start of Trump's second term, and lately has been named about as often as health care and immigration. The latest poll finds that it is the most important issue of 12% of Democrats and essentially no Republicans
- While more Americans strongly or somewhat disapprove than approve of how Trump is handling immigration, it is one of Trump's best issues, with a net approval — the share who strongly or somewhat approve minus the share who strongly or somewhat disapprove — of -1
- That compares to net approval this week of -15 on Trump's handling of jobs and the economy and -30 on his handling of inflation
- Trump's overall job approval rating is -13, so his handling of immigration gets more approval from Americans than his overall job handling does, while approval of his handling of jobs and the economy gets less approval, and his handling of inflation gets far less
- 2% of Americans who disapprove of Trump's overall job handling approve of how he's handling inflation, 5% of those who disapprove of Trump approve of how he's handling jobs and the economy, and 13% of those who disapprove of Trump approve of how he's handling immigration
Federal troops in cities
- Slightly more Americans strongly or somewhat oppose than support Donald Trump sending federal troops into cities to combat crime (49% vs. 42%)
- Opposition is even higher for sending federal troops into Americans' own area (52% vs. 39%)
- Americans are evenly divided on sending federal troops into Washington, D.C. (45% vs. 45%)
- Slightly more Americans oppose than support sending federal troops into cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement (46% vs. 42%) and into cities in states with governors who oppose federal troops being sent (46% vs. 42%)
- 44% of Americans think that compared to other major U.S. cities, the cities to which Trump has proposed sending federal troops generally have much or somewhat higher crime rates; 22% think their crime rates are about average, and 16% think their crime rates are below average
Trump retaliation
- 20% of Americans say Trump would be justified in directing the Justice Department to go after his political enemies, while 61% say he would not be justified
- Almost all Democrats say Trump would not be justified (2% say he would and 89% say he wouldn't), as do most Independents (17% vs. 65%)
- Republicans are split: 41% say Trump would be justified and 31% say he wouldn't
- Republicans who say they are MAGA Republicans are far more likely to say Trump is justified than to say he isn't (53% vs. 21%); Republicans who say they're not MAGA are more likely to say Trump is not justified (31% vs. 43%)
- Half (50%) of U.S. adult citizens say Trump is directing the Justice Department to go after his political enemies, while 29% say Trump is not doing so
- Most Americans who say Trump would be justified in prosecuting his enemies say Trump is not doing so (20% vs. 62%)
- Most who say Trump would not be justified in prosecuting his enemies say he is doing so (71% vs. 17%)
- Put another way, only 4% of Americans think both that Trump would be justified in prosecuting his enemies and is doing so; and only 10% say he wouldn't be justified and also isn't doing so
The Federal Reserve
- A majority (57%) of Americans are at least somewhat familiar with the Federal Reserve
- 60% are able to correctly identify — out of four options provided — that its role is to "determine U.S. monetary policy" (rather than to set the federal government’s annual budget, manage national parks, or direct part-time U.S. military personnel)
- 42% of respondents correctly name Jerome Powell as the chair of the Federal Reserve
- Nearly half (44%) of Americans aren't sure what they think of how Powell is handling his job as chair of the Federal Reserve; somewhat more Americans strongly or somewhat approve of his job handling than disapprove (33% vs. 23%)
- More Democrats approve than disapprove of Powell's job handling (47% vs. 11%), while less Republicans approve than disapprove (18% vs. 34%)
- More Americans say they trust the Federal Reserve Board than the president to handle the U.S. economy (45% vs. 26%)
- At least half of Americans say they have either a lot of trust or a little trust in the Federal Reserve to set interest rates (59%), boost economic markets (53%), keep the U.S. out of a recession (53%), bring down inflation (52%), and be a politically independent government body (51%)
- Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans to trust the Federal Reserve to do each of the five tasks asked about in the survey
- Since 2022, there have been increases in the shares of Americans who have a lot of trust or a little trust in the Federal Reserve's ability to keep the U.S. out of an economic recession (+9), be a politically independent government body (+7), and boost U.S. economic markets (+5). Increased trust in these areas is mostly driven by Republicans
- 59% of Americans — including 78% of Democrats and 38% of Republicans — say the Federal Reserve should be independent of presidential administrations. Far more Republicans than Democrats are unsure whether it should be (40% vs. 18%)
The CDC and vaccines
- More Americans strongly or somewhat disapprove (45%) than approve (37%) of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s handling of his job as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Approval of Kennedy has changed little since early August
- Americans with college degrees are much more likely to disapprove of Kennedy's job performance than are those without degrees (40% vs. 61%)
- This holds true among Democrats (69% without degrees disapprove vs. 92% with degrees disapproving), Independents (43% vs. 64%), and Republicans (14% vs. 20%)
- Gaps in the share who aren't sure account for much of the difference. For instance, 21% of Democrats without college degrees and 4% with college degrees are unsure what they think of Kennedy's job performance
- More Americans hold a very or somewhat unfavorable view of Kennedy than a favorable one (50% vs. 37%)
- More Americans say that Kennedy rejects the science on vaccines than say he follows the science (49% vs. 22%). The share who say he rejects the science has fallen 5 points since mid-June
- Most Democrats (73%) think Kennedy rejects vaccine science while only 25% of Republicans do. Many Republicans (38%) are unsure, while 37% think he follows the science
- Far more Americans trust medical advice a lot or somewhat from their doctor (79%) or from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, (51%) than do so from Kennedy (26%)
- More Americans disapprove than approve (46% vs. 31%) of Trump firing Susan Monarez as director of the CDC after she refused to resign amid pressure to change vaccine policy
- 61% of Americans believe COVID-19 vaccines generally are very or somewhat safe; 33% believe they are not very or not at all safe
- Slightly more Americans disapprove than approve (39% vs. 35%) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) restricting its approval of updated COVID-19 vaccines to people who are 65 and older or who have at least one underlying condition that puts them at higher risk
- Nearly half (46%) of Americans say they would not want to receive an updated version of the COVID-19 vaccine. 28% would like to receive one and believe they are eligible to do so; 13% would want to receive it, but say they are not eligible to do so
- More Americans have a favorable view than an unfavorable view of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement (46% vs. 31%)
- Many, but not all, policies backed by the MAHA movement receive net positive support (the percentage who strongly or somewhat support minus the percentage who strongly or somewhat oppose)
- More support than oppose:
- Requiring nutrition education in public K-12 schools (+79 net support)
- Banning certain food additives, including synthetic food dyes (+71)
- Increasing restrictions on the use of pesticides in agriculture (+57)
- Banning student cellphone use in K-12 schools (+40)
- Funding research into alternative and holistic approaches to health (+39)
- Banning the buying of candy and soda by participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides food to low-income people (+8)
- More oppose than support:
- Reducing funding for research on infectious disease (-56)
- Lifting restrictions on the sale of raw milk (-12)
- Increasing the ability of parents to exempt their children from receiving vaccines on religious or personal grounds (-9)
- Removing fluoride from public water supplies (-2)
- More support than oppose:
— 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 August 29 - September 2, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,691 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 (Spencer Platt / Staff)
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