This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers…
- A new high in support for military aid to Ukraine
- How long Americans expect the Israel-Hamas peace deal to last
- The popularity of an Argentina bailout — and how that depends on its framing
- How accepting Americans are of lethal strikes on accused drug smugglers
- Increasing personal effects from the shutdown — and disapproval of it
Foreign policy
Ukraine
- 35% of Americans want to increase U.S. military aid to Ukraine, a record high since Economist / YouGov Polls began asking about this in September 2022 and an increase from 24% in early March 2025
- 21% want to decrease or stop U.S. military aid to Ukraine, a tie for the lowest share to say this since 2022 and the lowest outright in three years; that's down from 35% in early March
Israel-Hamas war
- 13% of Americans support increasing military aid to Israel, less than half the 35% who want to increase Ukrainian military aid to Ukraine
- 30% of Americans sympathize more with the Israelis in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while 23% sympathize more with the Palestinians and 27% with both sides about equally
- In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, 68% sympathize more with Ukraine, 2% more with Russia, and 19% with neither side
- 41% of Americans think the recent peace deal between Israel and Hamas will last less than six months; 11% think it will last between six months and a year, 10% think it will last one to five years, 3% more than five years, and 2% forever
- 43% of Americans, including 18% of Democrats and 74% of Republicans, say Donald Trump played a major role in the Israel-Hamas peace deal; 26% say Trump played a minor role and 13% say he played no role
- Similar shares of Americans say Trump's approach to the Israel-Hamas war has been about right (38%) and too supportive of Israel (33%)
- Only 4% of Americans say Trump has not been supportive enough of Israel
Argentina
- More Americans oppose than support the U.S. providing up to $40 billion to stabilize Argentina's currency
- Precise levels of support depend on how Americans are asked; this week's poll asked half of respondents about "the U.S. government" bailing out Argentina and half about "the Trump administration" doing so
- Among the half asked about "the U.S. government," 20% strongly or somewhat approve of the bailout and 56% disapprove
- Among the half asked about "the Trump administration," 21% approve and 51% disapprove
- Democrats are less likely to support a bailout described as being the from Trump administration than from the U.S. government (14% vs. 19% approve), while Republicans are more likely to support a Trump bailout than a U.S. bailout (37% vs. 28%)
- Many Americans have no opinion about Argentina's president Javier Milei: 13% have a very or somewhat favorable view of Milei, 20% an unfavorable view, while 67% don't know
- Republicans are more likely than Democrats to view Milei favorably (20% vs. 8%)
Drug smuggling
- 64% of Americans consider the smuggling of drugs into the U.S. to be a major problem, while 22% say it's a minor problem and 4% say it's not a problem
- More Americans strongly or somewhat approve than disapprove of the U.S. making lethal military strikes on boats in the Caribbean suspected of smuggling drugs (48% vs. 38%)
- 87% of Republicans approve of the attacks, compared to 34% of Independents and 23% of Democrats
- Men are more likely than women to approve of the attacks (56% vs. 41%), and non-college graduates are more likely to than college grads (51% vs. 42%)
- Among those who say drug smuggling is a major problem, 66% support the attacks, compared to 17% of those who say drug smuggling is a minor problem or no problem
The government shutdown
- A growing share of Americans say they are being personally affected by the government shutdown: 27% say they are being affected a great deal or somewhat, compared to 21% who said so last week; a week earlier, 39% said they expected to be affected a great deal or somewhat
- More Americans disapprove than approve of how Trump is handling the government shutdown (56% vs. 34%), and the same is true about American opinion of shutdown handling by congressional Republicans (54% vs. 29%) and Democrats (53% vs. 28%)
- Among Republicans, net approval of handling of the shutdown is down by 7 points for Republicans in Congress and by 5 points for Trump
- More Americans say that Republicans in Congress are most responsible for the shutdown than say Democrats in Congress are (39% vs. 31%); 24% say the two groups are equally responsible
- How much longer do Americans expect the shutdown to last? 40% say they expect it to last another three weeks or more and 21% anticipate it will last another two weeks or less. Many (39%) say they are not sure how long it will last
- More Americans say that Democrats in Congress should than should not hold out for changes to health care funding — such as extending subsidies for Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage — before agreeing to end the government shutdown (45% vs. 32%)
- Twice as many Americans approve as disapprove of the ACA, also known as Obamacare (60% vs. 30%)
- Nearly a year ago when we last asked this question, net approval of the ACA was slightly lower: 54% approved and 31% disapproved
- When we first asked this question in 2017, the margin of approval was even slimmer (46% vs. 42%)
- To end the shutdown, some Republicans have called for abolishing the Senate filibuster rule. About half (48%) of Americans are unsure whether the Senate's filibuster rule is good or bad; slightly more see it as good than bad (27% vs. 24%). Similar shares of Democrats and Republicans view the rule as good (27% vs. 31%)
- When Democrats controlled the Senate in 2022, far fewer Democrats than Republicans (19% vs. 54%) considered the filibuster to be a good rule
Throughout this report, some numbers may appear to be off by 1 because of rounding
See the toplines and crosstabs for the October 17 - 20, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,621 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 (Andrew Harnik / Staff)
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