Over the past six months, Americans have become less supportive of Donald Trump’s policies and plans — and more likely to say that Trump is making the way the federal government works worse.
But wide partisan divides remain, with Republicans being far more likely than Democrats to express confidence in Trump on both domestic and foreign policy issues.
Trump’s policies and plans
Both Republicans and Democrats have become less likely to express support for Trump’s policies in recent months:
- 58% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they support all or most of Trump’s policies, down from two-thirds earlier this year.
- 88% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say they support few or none of Trump’s policies, a modest increase from the 84% who said the same in February. This includes 51% who say they support none of Trump’s policies and plans.
Trump’s influence on the way government works
A narrow majority of Americans (53%) say Trump is making the way the federal government works worse, nearly double the share who say he is making it better (27%). Two-in-ten say Trump is making the government function about equally better and worse.
While there are wide partisan differences in perceptions of Trump’s impact on the federal government, both Democrats and Republicans have become more negative in their assessments than they were at the start of his term.
Democrats (87%) overwhelmingly say Trump is making the way the government works worse. A few weeks into his presidency, 78% predicted that he would make this worse.
While a 55% majority of Republicans say Trump is making the government work better, that is 21 percentage points lower than the share who expected he would make things better six months ago. The share of Republicans saying he is making things worse is also up, from 7% to 16%, over that period.
Confidence in Trump’s ability to handle issues
Across most domestic and foreign policy issues, Americans express less confidence in Trump than they did in the period leading up to his election in November. However, views are little changed in recent months.
Fewer than half of Americans express confidence in Trump on any of the 12 issues asked about on the survey, but he performs better on some issues than others:
- 47% say they are at least somewhat confident in his ability to negotiate favorable trade agreements with other countries.
- 46% express confidence in Trump to make good decisions about immigration and use military force wisely.
But substantially smaller shares are confident in Trump’s ability to bring the country closer together (31%) or work well with Democratic elected officials (27%).
Views among Republicans
Wide majorities of Republicans are at least somewhat confident in Trump on most of these measures, including his ability to:
- Make good decisions about immigration and use military force wisely (83% each)
- Negotiate trade agreements with other countries, effectively handle law enforcement and criminal justice issues, and respond effectively to natural disasters (81% each)
- Make good decisions about economic (80%), foreign (79%), tax (77%) and health care (72%) policy
- Manage the executive branch effectively (77%)
By comparison, much smaller shares of Republicans express confidence in Trump’s ability to bring the country closer together (56%) or work well with Democratic elected officials (49%).
(Note that the survey was conducted prior to Trump’s announcement that he would federalize the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department and deploy the National Guard to combat crime in the city.)
Views among Democrats
Across the full set of domestic and foreign policy issues, small shares of Democrats express confidence in Trump’s ability – no more than 15% of Democrats express confidence in Trump on any (15% say have confidence in him on negotiating trade deals), with even smaller shares expressing confidence in him on several of the issues (including working well with Democrats, making good decisions about health care policy and bringing the country closer together).
Confidence in Trump on foreign policy issues
Seven-in-ten or more Republicans say they are at least somewhat confident that Trump can make wise decisions across a series of foreign policy issues, while no more than two-in-ten Democrats say the same.
Most of these views are little changed from last July, during the presidential campaign. But confidence in Trump’s decision-making on the war between Ukraine and Russia is lower than it was last year, particularly among Republicans.
Today, 40% of Americans are at least somewhat confident in Trump to make wise decisions about the Ukraine-Russia conflict, down from 45% last summer. And while 73% of Republicans express confidence today, that is down from 81% a year ago.
Related: How Americans view the Trump administration’s approach to the Russia-Ukraine war
