This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers…
- A new low for Trump's job approval in his second term
- Where Americans want to increase government spending
- Bipartisan unity against the possibility of Trump pardoning Sean Combs or Ghislaine Maxwell
- The country's most trusted institutions
- The aftermath of the latest No Kings protests
- How and when Americans want their clocks to change
Trump job approval
- 39% of Americans strongly or somewhat approve of how Trump is handling his job as president, while 58% disapprove — a net approval of -19
- This is the lowest net approval Trump has received in any Economist / YouGov Poll in Trump's second term, and lower than all but one poll in his first term
- Just 20% of adults under 30 approve of Trump's job handling, while 75% disapprove
- This 20% approval among adults under 30 is a 30-point drop from February, when 50% of 18- to 29-year-olds approved of Trump and 42% disapproved
- Trump's net job approval has declined in all age groups since the start of his term, but no other age group has registered as big a change as adults under 30
- More Americans disapprove than approve of how Trump is handling immigration (-10 net approval), abortion (-17), education (-19), jobs and the economy (-22), climate change and the environment (-22), and inflation and prices (-31)
- 38% of Americans have very or somewhat favorable views of Trump and 57% have unfavorable views
- His net favorability of -18 is the lowest of his second term
Government spending
- Majorities of Americans want the government to increase spending by either a lot or a little on veterans (72%), Social Security (69%), Medicare (64%), education (62%), Medicaid (55%), and the environment (53%)
- Nearly half (47%) want an increase in spending on SNAP. Less Americans (40%) want to increase spending on national defense, though this is more than the share who want to decrease national defense spending (25%)
- Twice as many Americans want to decrease spending on foreign aid as want to increase it (44% vs. 21%)
Trump's recent actions
- More Americans disapprove than approve of many of Trump's recent actions, including canceling trade talks with Canada, demolishing the East Wing of the White House, commuting the sentence of George Santos, and pardoning Changpeng Zhao
- Most Americans (55%) strongly or somewhat disapprove of Trump's decision to cancel trade negotiations with Canada; only 24% approve
- The vast majority (88%) of Democrats disapprove of ending the negotiations, compared to only 4% who approve
- About half (53%) of Republicans approve of stopping trade talks with Canada; 19% disapprove
- Other YouGov polling conducted Tuesday found that more Americans disapprove than approve of how Trump is handling Canada (53% vs. 30%) and that more support decreasing tariffs on Canada than support increasing them (45% vs. 11%)
- A majority (61%) of Americans disapprove of Trump's demolition of the East Wing of the White House and construction of a new $300 million ballroom in its place; one-quarter (25%) approve of this construction
- More than three times as many Americans disapprove as approve of Trump commuting the sentence of former Representative Santos, who was convicted of identity theft and wire fraud (60% vs. 16%)
- Republicans are slightly more likely to approve of Trump's commutation of Santos' sentence than to disapprove of it (35% to 31%). Last December, more Republicans said they would oppose Santos being pardoned than would support it (33% vs. 24%)
- Americans are also far more likely to disapprove than approve of Trump's pardon of Zhao, the founder of crypto exchange Binance who was convicted of money laundering (64% vs. 12%)
- Unlike with the commutation of Santos' sentence, more Republicans disapprove than approve of Zhao's pardon (34% vs. 26%)
- If Trump were to pardon Sean "Diddy" Combs (who was convicted of transportation to engage in prostitution) and Ghisalaine Maxwell (who was convicted of child sex trafficking), these actions would get even less support
- Only 4% of Americans think Trump should pardon Diddy and only 2% are in favor of a pardon for Maxwell
- Most Americans don't think Trump deserves reprieve from the Justice Department: 63% say he should not be given the $230 million he is seeking from the government as compensation for its previous investigations into him. One in five (19%) think he should receive this compensation
- Support among for the Justice Department potentially compensating Trump is tepid, though more would approve than would disapprove (41% vs. 32%)
Trust in institutions
- Among 15 institutions asked about in the poll, there are few that a majority of Americans have either a great deal or quite a bit of trust in: Just over half say they trust the military (53%) and a similar proportion (52%) trust small business
- 42% trust the police
- Less than one-third of Americans trust each of public schools (29%), the medical system (29%), the church or organized religion (27%), banks (23%), and organized labor (22%). Even smaller shares trust each of television news (18%), newspapers (15%), and big business (14%)
- Of the 15 institutions asked about, Congress is the least likely to be trusted: Only 14% say they trust it a great deal or quite a bit. More have trust in the Supreme Court (21%) and the presidency (29%)
- Democrats are more likely than Republicans to place a great deal or quite a bit of trust in public schools, organized labor, the medical system, TV news, and newspapers
- More Republicans than Democrats say they trust four government institutions: the military, the presidency, the police, and the Supreme Court. Republicans are also more likely to trust small business, the church or organized religion, banks, and big business
No Kings protests
- Most Americans (87%) heard a lot (47%) or a little (40%) about the No Kings protests held nationwide on October 18
- 8% of Americans — including 16% of Democrats and Independents who lean towards the Democratic Party — say they participated in a recent No Kings protest
- Older Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents are more likely than younger ones to have participated: 25% of those 65 and older did compared to 13% of younger adults
- Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents who graduated from college are also more likely to have participated in the protests than are those who did not graduate from college (20% vs.13%)
- Half (49%) of Americans approve of the No Kings protests held October 18; one-third (33%) disapprove
- Approval is 5 points higher, and disapproval 7 points lower, than for views of the No Kings protests held in June
- Two-thirds (67%) of Americans believe that the people who participated in No Kings protests were mostly peaceful; 6% say they were mostly violent
- Majorities of Democrats (87%) and Independents (67%) believe the protests were mostly peaceful
- 48% of Republicans view the protests as mostly peaceful, which is only slightly more than the share who are not sure (41%)
- More Americans believe the recent No Kings protests were mostly peaceful than said the same about the No Kings protests held in June (67% vs. 56%)
Daylight saving time
- Only 23% of Americans are looking forward to the end of daylight saving time coming up; 34% are not looking forward to it and 36% say they don't really care
- A majority (65%) of Americans would like to see the changing of the clocks eliminated; 13% would like to continue changing the clocks and 21% are not sure
- Older Americans are more likely than younger adults to support eliminating the changing of the clocks
- Among those who wish to stop changing the clocks, more would prefer to stay on daylight saving time (stay "sprung forward" an hour for later sunset) than want to stay on standard time (stay "fallen back" for earlier sunrise), by a margin of 46% vs. 29%; 22% have no preference
- Among Americans who wish to stop changing the clocks, those who live in the Northeast are especially likely to prefer permanent daylight saving time to permanent standard time
Throughout this report, some numbers may appear to be off by 1 because of rounding
See the toplines and crosstabs for the October 24 - 27, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,623 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)
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.
