Overview
This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers…
- Who's being blamed for the shutdown
- Stability in Trump's job approval
- How many Americans have no confidence in ICE
- A downturn in economic sentiment, especially among Republicans
- Opinion on the actions of the Justice Department
- How attitudes on conversion therapy have shifted since 2014
The government shutdown
- There have been few changes in Americans' views on the government shutdown since last week's poll, including who they hold responsible and how they think lawmakers should approach it
- More Americans disapprove than approve of how Trump is handling the government shutdown (53% vs. 35%), and the same is true about congressional Republicans (53% vs. 28%) and Democrats (52% vs. 25%)
- More Americans say that Republicans in Congress and Trump are most responsible for the shutdown than say Democrats in Congress are (39% vs. 33%), though this margin has narrowed from last week (41% vs. 30%). 20% say the two groups are equally responsible, little changed from 23% last week
- Most Americans (64%) say that, given the choice of two options for how members of Congress should negotiate, "lawmakers should compromise to reach a budget agreement, even if it means sacrificing some priorities that they believe in," while 36% would prefer that lawmakers "fight for the priorities that they believe in, even if it means risking a government shutdown." Majorities of Democrats (60%) and Republicans (69%) would prefer that lawmakers compromise on the budget
- More Americans believe that Democrats are likelier to compromise to reach an agreement on the federal budget than believe that Republicans are (31% vs. 20%); 16% believe lawmakers from each party are equally likely to compromise
- More Americans oppose than support permanently laying off some federal workers during the shutdown (54% vs. 29%) and a majority (71%) of Americans think that federal workers who are not being paid during the shutdown should receive back pay when the shutdown ends, including majorities of Democrats (88%) and Republicans (60%)
- 21% of Americans say they are personally being affected either a great deal (7%) or somewhat (14%) by the shutdown; 25% say they are being affected a little and 54% say they are not being affected at all
- How much longer do Americans expect the shutdown to last? 37% say they expect it to last another three weeks or more and 25% anticipate it will last another two weeks or less. Many (39%) say they are not sure how long it will last
Trump approval
- 40% of Americans strongly or somewhat approve of Donald Trump's job performance as president, and 55% disapprove, a net approval of -15
- This is up slightly from last week, when Trump had a net approval of -17, but similar to how Americans have rated Trump's job performance in recent weeks
- Last week, Trump's net approval hit record lows for his second term among women, Americans 65 and older, and Hispanics
- This week, Trump's net approval rose in all three groups:
- From -28 to -19 among women
- From -13 to 0 among Americans 65 and older
- From -46 to -35 among Hispanics
- It's not unusual to see variation like this in tracking polls, especially among subgroups
- Views on Trump's temperament, likeability, and honesty have become more positive in the past month but remain below levels when he took office in January
Deportations and ICE
- Americans are evenly divided on what should happen to immigrants who have entered the U.S. illegally, but have committed no crimes while here: 41% think they should be allowed to stay and 40% think they should be deported
- Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to believe illegal immigrants who have not committed other crimes should be allowed to stay. Younger adults are far more likely than older ones to believe this
- More Americans say they have no confidence at all in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) than say they have a great deal of confidence (38% vs. 26%)
- Two-thirds (67%) of Americans think that while making arrests, ICE officers should be required to wear uniforms; 18% say they shouldn't be required to
- About half (52%) of Americans say ICE officers should not be allowed to wear masks that hide their identities while making arrests and 35% say they should
- Views on anti-ICE protests are split: 40% believe they have mostly been peaceful and 39% believe they have mostly been violent
The economy
- 57% of Americans say the U.S. economy is getting worse, the most to say that in more than a year
- 18% of Americans say the economy is getting better and 21% say it's staying about the same, both down from earlier this year
- The last time this many Americans said the economy was getting worse was May 2024
- Americans with different political views are likely to hold different views on the economy
- Only 4% of Democrats say the economy is getting better, compared to 38% of Republicans
- In May 2024, when Democrat Joe Biden was president, the situation was reversed: 35% of Democrats and 4% of Republicans said the economy was getting better
- The share of Republicans who say the economy is getting better is down from 56% in July
The Justice Department
- A majority (54%) of Americans believe that Trump is directing the Justice Department to go after his political enemies; 23% say he is not
- Only 24% of Americans — including 47% of Republicans and 4% of Democrats — say Trump would be justified in directing the Justice Department to go after his political enemies
- Americans are divided on the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Leticia James: 32% strongly or somewhat approve of these indictments, 36% disapprove, and 12% neither approve nor disapprove
Conversion therapy
- The Supreme Court is considering a Colorado law that bans conversion therapy aimed at minors who are questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity. Our latest poll finds that about three times as many Americans favor as oppose a ban on conversion therapy for minors (59% vs. 20%)
- We also revisited questions related to conversion therapy that YouGov asked in 2014, finding only minor changes in opinion since then
- Slightly less Americans now say that "someone who is homosexual can change their sexual orientation if they choose to do so" than did in 2014 (27% vs. 31%)
- Only 11% say that "gay conversion therapy [can] change a person's sexual orientation from gay to straight" (8% said so in 2014)
- 17% of Americans think that gays and lesbians should attend programs to try to change their sexuality, little changed from the 16% who said so in 2014
Throughout this report, some numbers may appear to be off by 1 because of rounding
See the toplines and crosstabs for the October 10 - 13, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,622 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, geographic region, 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 (Anna Moneymaker / Staff)
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