Voters believe President Trump’s active efforts to expand executive power have skeptical about some of his iconic works on some of his agendas, a New York Times/Siena Academy poll shows.
Most voters are seen as turbulent in Mr. Trump’s administration in the early months were seen as “chaos” and “terror”, and even many who approve of the work he is doing. Voters do not consider him to be understanding issues in daily life and approaching his leadership during his tenorial tenth day.
[Nate Cohn looks at President Trump’s polling numbers from four different perspectives.]
Mr. Trump’s approval rate is 42%. His status has historically been low for the president, but that matches his stubborn unpopularity, which did not prevent him from sweeping the battlefield nations in last year’s election.
Now, however, voters have expressed heavy confidence in Mr. Trump’s handling of some of the most important issues that have pushed him back to the White House, including the economy and immigration, even if most Americans support deportation. Only 43% said they approved how he managed the economy this semester, a serious erosion of the problem that has long been seen as an advantage.
The president’s pursuit of widespread tariffs (which led to the decline and reverberation of the stock market) was opposed by 55% of voters, including 63% of independents.
To sum up, the investigation’s findings show that any of Mr. Trump’s second honeymoons are over. His approval rate among key independent voters is now 29%.
Voters say he’s “going too far” on one issue after another – his tariffs, immigration enforcement and layoffs on the federal workforce. A wide range of independent voters support the Democrats, believing he is overdoing it.
Overall, a 54% majority said Mr. Trump “overwhelms the powers available to him”, which included 16% of Republicans and 62% of independent voters.
Douglas Williams, 56, a cattle farm and banker in rural Missouri, voted for Mr. Trump in each of the last three elections, but still supported most of his agenda. But he was worried that the president would “push the envelope” through some execution orders.
Mr Williams said: “Now, do I agree with the goal? Do I agree with the result? Possible?” Mr Williams said. “But I’m a constitutionalist, at least a little worried about how far we’ll push it.”
For some of Mr. Trump’s supporters, the chaos and his refusal to comply with the norms are part of his appeal, if not the point.
Nearly half of those who agree with Mr. Trump still see the recent months as confusing. About 40% of Republican voters say the president should be able to do what they think is the best, even if that may exceed existing rules. Eight per cent of voters who approved Mr. Trump said his actions were “a unique threat to our system of administration.”
“Sometimes you have to break the rules,” said Michael Craig, 63.
Still, voters in general are questioning not only Mr. Trump’s approach, but his policy agenda.
About half of voters (about 60% of independents) said they disapprove of Mr. Trump’s handling of trade with other countries; the federal labor force; the war between Russia and Ukraine; and the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an immigrant in Maryland, was wrongly deported to a prison in El Salvador as part of Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Regarding foreign affairs, 68% of voters said the country benefited primarily from alliances and trade, while only 24% said the country was primarily hurt by them.
More and more voters say they oppose Mr. Trump’s executive order backfire, bringing the federal government’s diversity, equity and inclusive programs more than support them, even if the DEI issues push Democrats into defensive crouches.
[Visit our approval rating tracker to see how the president’s job approval has changed over time.]
Voters don’t seem to believe that Mr. Trump is sympathetic to his struggle. After most of the last year’s commitment to lower prices immediately, he and his allies urged patience and tried to provide short-term economic pain to the nation.
Only 44% of voters (including 31% of independents) said he “understands the problems people like you are facing”.
A wide majority said they would rather put restrictions on the various powers Mr. Trump was trying to exercise:
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61% of voters, including 33% of Republicans, the president should not impose tariffs without Congress’ authorization.
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54%, including 26% of Republicans, said the president cannot eliminate plans set by Congress.
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63%, including 40% of Republicans, said the president cannot deport legal immigrants protesting Israel.
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73% of voters, including 56% of Republicans, said the president should not send American citizens to prisons in El Salvador as Trump threatened to do so.
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As Mr. Trump’s administration opposes publicly violating court orders, high 76% of voters and 61% of Republicans said the president should not ignore the Supreme Court.
Overall, 54% of voters said Trump has “goed too far” to change in the country’s political and economic system, and 63% of independent voters feel that.
50% of voters said the turmoil he brought to the U.S. political and economic system was a “bad thing.” Only 36% say the change is good.
One of the most disturbing numbers for Mr. Trump is the share that voters enjoy, who believe they are hurt by their policies.
Voters say his policies hurt them because they say his policies helped them. It was a reversal from last fall, when many voters in the crowd group said his first term policy helped them.
Trust Mr. Trump to the economy is a key element of his victory in 2024. A year ago, the Times/Siena Poll showed that 64% of voters remember affectionately how he handled the economic president. However, now only 43% of voters have given him a positive mark at the beginning of the semester.
Even with the blame for the economy, voters are still deeply dissatisfied with the economy.
Despite Mr. Trump’s term, equal numbers of voters believe he is responsible for the economic situation they face because those who believe former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. are responsible. Similar shares say men are not responsible.
Meanwhile, more voters believe that Mr. Trump has become worse than the better (21%) since taking office (50%).
Negative sentiment towards the economy spans every race, education level and region in the country, less than 1% rated the economy as excellent, while 76% said it was fair or poor.
Despite this, despite the turmoil in the market, these views have remained largely unchanged since October.
Mr. Trump’s supporters seem happy to give him more time to see how his economic agenda, especially when it comes to tariffs.
“I’m actually thinking, I’m 59 years old, I don’t need a lot of stuff, nor do I buy a lot of stuff — so for me, I just sat down and let it ride for a while,” said Tracey Carson, a retiree and independent voter in Wisconsin, Wisconsin. “I’m a little scared of the aluminum thing with Canada because I’m a big diet drinker. But I think he’s using it as a strategy to make things fair and try to get a deal. Because he’s always on the deal.”
One of Mr. Trump’s signature policies, mass deportation, continues to have majority public support. Although he received negative reviews for his deportation and imprisonment in El Salvador, his views on immigration policy’s handling remain relatively similar to a year ago.
The policy of expelling people living in the United States to return to their home countries illegally has received 54% support, including 18% of Democrats.
Still, voters generally believe that Mr. Trump has a negative view on immigration handling, with 47% approving and 51% disagreeing.
Polls show Democrats are starting a long way toward each other, bringing a glimmer of hope toward next year’s midterm elections. Of all voters, 47% said they would rather vote for the House of Representatives for Democrats, compared with 44% for Republican candidates.
Voters are clearly not satisfied with the role played by Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man and senior White House adviser. Having achieved different successes, he oversaw severe cuts to federal agencies through so-called government efficiency departments and fought the cabinet secretary on the scope of his power.
Only 35% of voters are in favor of Mr. Musk. Perhaps more illuminating, putting his name on his behavior makes them more popular. The Times asked two questions about Doge’s cuts, and when Mr. Musk’s name was not included, it was more popular.
Adam Schechter, 46, a tech expert in Springfield, Virginia, voted for Mr. Trump last year, saying he supports most of the president’s agenda but fears the “very messy” approach he is taking.
Mr Schechter said: “As you might say, Mr Musk waving a literal chain saw to facilitate his cuts two months after. “The way of handling casually is not universally approved by me. ”
He was also upset about the “consolidation of federal power in the executive branch.”
“I don’t like Biden,” he said. “I really don’t like Trump.”
Kristen Zhang Contribution report.
How the poll was conducted
Here are the keys to know about the New York Times and the Siena Academy poll:
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Times/Siena polls were conducted via phone live interviewers in English and Spanish. Overall, 97% of respondents were surveyed on the cell phones. You can see the exact questions asked and the order in which they are asked here.
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Voters are selected from the list of registered voters to survey. This list contains information about the demographic characteristics of each registered voter, allowing us to ensure we reach the number of voters in each party, race and region. For the poll, interviewers made more than 120,000 calls to more than 35,000 voters.
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To further ensure that the results reflect the entire voting population, not only those willing to conduct the polls, we provide the respondents with greater weight, who, like those without a college degree, underrepresented among the survey respondents. You can view more information about respondent characteristics and weighted samples under “Composition of Samples”.
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The margin for sampling errors among registered voters is to add or subtract 3.8 percentage points. In theory, this means that the results should reflect the overall population perspective most of the time, although many other challenges bring other sources of error. When calculating the difference between two values (such as the lead of the candidate in the competition), the error range is twice as large.
You can see the full results and detailed approach here. If you want to learn more about how and why polls are conducted, you can check out the answers to frequently asked questions here and submit your questions here.
