Trump’s nominees, criminal cases, and business interests: November 23-26, 2024 Economist/YouGov Poll

This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers Donald Trump’s appointees, his policy plans, his criminal cases, his businesses, and transgender issues.

President-elect Donald Trump

Trump’s appointees

• Americans are divided in their opinions of many of Donald Trump’s appointments, and the division is partisan. Republicans are overwhelmingly positive about his choices, while Democrats view each of those asked about more negatively than positively
• Several appointees are unknown to many Americans: Half have no opinion of Sean Duffy, tapped to lead the Department of Transportation. More than a third have no opinion of Pete Hegseth (Defense), Kristi Noem (Homeland Security), Linda McMahon (Education), and Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intelligence)
• By 44% to 24%, Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Matt Gaetz, Trump’s original nominee for Attorney General. Pam Bondi, Gaetz’s replacement, is less well-known, but is also more well-liked than Gaetz among those familiar with her (26% favorable vs. 27% unfavorable)
• Among Republicans, Gaetz is viewed more favorably (41%) than unfavorably (28%). Compared to the last time we asked this question about Gaetz in April 2024, awareness of him has increased, and the shares of Republicans with both favorable and unfavorable views of him have also risen

A boost for the GOP

• The Republican Party’s victory earlier this month has buoyed Americans’ opinions of the party. Nearly as many Americans now have very or somewhat favorable opinions of the Republican Party (45%) as hold very or somewhat unfavorable views of it (47%). This is the most who have viewed it favorably in an Economist/YouGov poll since May 2023
• The Democratic Party is now somewhat more likely to be viewed negatively than the Republican Party, with 39% having a favorable view and 53% an unfavorable one

Trump’s campaign promises

• Majorities of Americans expect Trump will fulfill his campaign promises to fund the U.S.-Mexico border wall (75%), ban transgender athletes from women’s sports (70%), increase drilling on federal lands (64%), reduce the corporate tax rate (60%), and end birthright citizenship (55%)
• Smaller shares say they support his proposals, though more than half are strongly or somewhat in favor of banning transgender athletes from women’s sports (61%) and funding a border wall (57%). By 46% to 35%, Americans support increasing drilling on federal lands
• Opinions are more divided on Trump’s plans to end birthright citizenship (45% support vs. 42% oppose) and reduce the corporate tax rate (40% vs. 41%)

Government spending

• Elon Musk, who, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, has been placed in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, is viewed positively by more Americans than view him negatively (50% vs. 41%)
• Ramaswany is less well-known, and among those with an opinion on him, evaluations are closely divided between favorable and unfavorable views (34% vs. 32%)
• Cuts to some of the largest domestic spending programs, specifically entitlements, are unpopular. Most Americans (62%) — including most Republicans (59%) and Democrats (67%) — say they want the government to increase spending on Social Security. And a majority of Americans (58%) would increase spending on Medicare, including 47% of Republicans and 69% of Democrats
• Slightly fewer Americans favor increasing funding for Medicaid (48%) or SNAP (40%), but only a small fraction of people want funding for these programs to be reduced or cut

Trump and the courts

• Prior to his election victory, Trump had multiple legal cases pending against him. Now, these cases have either been dropped or paused indefinitely. Our latest survey concluded fielding just after prosecutors requested the dismissal of the federal election case against him
• Nearly half of Americans (46%) expected Trump’s criminal cases to be dismissed; 25% thought they would most likely be paused while he is in office, and 10% thought they would proceed as planned
• Only 31% of Americans said they thought the cases against him should be dismissed once he becomes president. More believe they should proceed as planned (37%) or be paused while he is in office (19%)
• Among Republicans, 62% said Trump’s cases should be dropped; among Democrats, 67% said they should proceed as planned

• Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that presidents have immunity when exercising the “core powers” of the presidency, most Americans (54%) say presidents should not have legal immunity for actions they’ve taken as president
• Only 26% believe presidents should have legal immunity. This marks a change in opinion relative to earlier this year: The share who say presidents should have legal immunity has risen 9 percentage points since June, when 17% said they should be immune
• Republicans are especially likely to have changed their views on this issue: 49% now support immunity for presidents compared to 32% who did in June

Trump’s businesses and the presidency

• Most Americans (54%) strongly or somewhat agree with the statement, “what is good for business is good for the country”
• Far fewer (33%) agree that “what is good for Donald Trump’s businesses is good for the country”
• Among Republicans, 73% believe that what’s good for business is good for the country, and 61% say the same about Trump’s businesses specifically
• 72% of Americans believe that Trump’s decision-making as president will be affected either a lot or somewhat by his business interests and positions
• What do Americans expect Trump will prioritize as president? 41% believe he will put his business interests first, while 38% say he will prioritize the interests of the U.S. One in 10 believe that Trump’s business interests are the same as the interests of the U.S.
• Most Democrats (72%) think Trump will prioritize his business interests; most Republicans (73%) think he will prioritize U.S. interests
• These questions were asked on an Economist/YouGov survey just after Trump’s last election win in December 2016; opinions on Trump’s priorities today are similar to what they were then

Transgender issues: bathrooms and women’s sports

• Most people (66%) have heard something about the new rule that restricts single-sex facilities — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — in the Capitol and House Office Buildings to only be used by people of the designated biological sex
• 51% of Americans say that transgender members of the House of Representatives should use bathrooms that correspond to their assigned sex at birth; 19% say they should use bathrooms that correspond to their current gender identity, and 12% say they should use either
• Most Americans (70%) expect that Trump will ban transgender athletes from participating on women’s sports teams. 61% of Americans strongly or somewhat support this policy, while 25% oppose it. A similar share (60%) say they would oppose allowing transgender women to participate even if they take testosterone suppression therapy
• One in three Americans (34%) say they personally know someone who is transgender: 14% say someone they know well is transgender, and 22% know an acquaintance. Liberals are three times more likely than conservatives to know a transgender person well, and Democrats and Independents are twice as likely as Republicans to say they do
• One thing that many Democrats and Republicans agree on is that members of Congress should be focusing less on transgender issues. 42% of Democrats and 56% of Republicans say lawmakers focus too much on transgender issues, while 19% and 15% of each group say they focus too little on them, and 19% and 15% say they focus the right amount

Throughout this report, some numbers may appear to be off by 1 because of rounding

See the toplines and crosstabs for the November 23-26, 2024 Economist/YouGov Poll

Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,590 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, 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

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