January 15, 2026
Following several major events, the public’s assessment of Donald Trump’s performance as president is holding quite steady. People are concerned about Trump’s policy priorities and think that the country, the economy, and their own households are worse off now than they were before he took office.
Similar to findings from an AP-NORC poll conducted in April 2025, about half of adults say that Trump is mostly focusing on the wrong priorities as president. Only about 2 in 10 say he is mostly focusing on the right priorities, and a similar share say that his priorities have been about evenly mixed.
The public’s assessment of Trump’s performance in office is remarkably steady. Three in 10 adults say Trump has been a good or great president so far in his second term, and 17% say he’s been average. Fifty-two percent say he has been a poor or terrible president. These results are similar to findings from AP-NORC polls conducted after the first few months of his second term and at the end of his first administration.
The public is more concerned about Trump’s impact on the country and overall economy than they are about their own household situation. About half say the country as a whole and the national economy have become somewhat or much worse off since Trump became president in 2025. About 4 in 10 say the same about themselves and their family, as well as their own personal finances. People don’t feel that Trump has helped them personally, but they are more likely to say he hasn’t had much of an impact.
In April 2024, when Trump was not in office and was seeking reelection, the public was more likely to say he helped rather than hurt the country when it came to job creation and immigration and border security issues. The public was evenly split on his impact on the cost of living and were less positive about his impact on health care costs.
Now, while views are just about the same regarding immigration and border security, the president has lost ground on economic issues. Half of the public say Trump has hurt the cost of healthcare so far in his second term, and 57% say the same about the cost of living. Another 4 in 10 say that he has hurt job creation since taking office.
Many people continue to feel Trump is going too far as he advances his agenda. About 6 in 10 say Trump has gone too far in imposing new tariffs and using presidential power to achieve his goals. And half of the public think he has gone too far with deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. These results are similar to findings from a September 2025 AP-NORC poll.
The nationwide poll was conducted January 8-11, 2026, using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,203 adults.
- Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. “The public is concerned about Trump’s policy priorities” (January 2026). https://apnorc.org/projects/the-public-is-concerned-about-trumps-policy-priorities/
