Overall, the results show a majority of American adults — 55% — disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president, while 45% approve. What’s more, the vehemence of the opposition outweighs the intensity of support from the president’s MAGA base.
Just over 4 in 10 Americans strongly disapprove of the job the president is doing, while only a quarter strongly approve. And when asked to label the emotions Trump evokes, strong negatives like “angry” and “furious” outweighed responses for the strongest positives, “happy” and “thrilled.”
Those broad assessments come as Trump falls short of majority support on any specific policy issues tested in the survey. On immigration, a strength of his throughout the 2024 campaign and still his best issue among those polled, adults were split, with 49% approving of his handling of border security and immigration and 51% disapproving. Meanwhile, the tariffs at the center of Trump’s economic agenda (and of recent news coverage of his administration) earned Trump’s lowest issue ratings, with 39% approving of his handling of the issue and 61% disapproving.
The results reflect responses from 19,682 adults who were surveyed from April 11-20, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. And they illustrate a tough road ahead for the Trump administration unless something shifts.
Sixty percent of Americans said the United States is on the wrong track, compared to 40% who said it’s on the right track. Republicans were the group most likely to say the country is on the right track (80%), including 89% of Republicans who identify as MAGA-aligned — the core of Trump’s base.
When looking at the intersection of race, gender and college attendance, the only group where a majority thinks the country is on the right track is white men without college degrees (54%).
There are predictable partisan splits on how people see Trump, with the vast majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning respondents (88%) approving of the job Trump is doing, while only 7% of Democrats and Democratic leaners do. Critically, adults who identify as independents are far more likely to disapprove (68%) than approve (32%).
Looking beyond a simple measure of approval reveals even larger asymmetry in how Americans feel about the Trump presidency. A majority of adults overall (51%) have negative feelings about the actions the Trump administration has taken so far, with 23% saying they are furious. On the other side, 32% have positive feelings toward the administration, with 13% feeling thrilled about its actions so far.
Among partisans, Democrats have stronger negative feelings toward the Trump administration than Republicans have positive feelings. Nine in 10 Democrats said they are dissatisfied, angry or furious with the administration, including 52% who said they are furious. By contrast, three-quarters of Republicans reported having positive feelings toward the Trump administration, including 32% who said they’re thrilled.
One outstanding question for the Democratic Party is whether it can capitalize on the anger felt in its base — and to what degree its voters might take out some of those feelings in their own party’s primaries. The poll also shows that the Democratic Party has significant work to do to convince people it is up to the task of taking on the Trump administration, as a plurality of adults say that they believe neither party fights for people like them.
