January 16, 2025
Donald Trump will assume the presidency with his inauguration on January 20th, 2025. He will start his term with a Republican majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as a more conservative Supreme Court. But large segments of the public lack confidence in his ability to handle key policy issues and the nation remains highly polarized on a number of his policy proposals.
Trump is entering the White House with a slight majority of adults who view him unfavorably (55%) and 41% who hold a positive opinion. Trump’s favorability among Republicans remains extremely high, with 79% of Republicans holding a favorable opinion of him.
More people view JD Vance, Trump’s Vice President, unfavorably than favorably. The same is true for Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House.
Reflecting on Trump’s presidency after he left the White House in January 2021, 36% considered him a good or great president, while 50% viewed him as poor or terrible. Today, ahead of his second inauguration, people are anticipating more of the same. Thirty-seven percent expect him to be a good or great president, and 46% expect him to be a poor or terrible president. Republicans are more optimistic, with 80% holding high expectations for his second term.
Few adults express strong confidence in Trump’s ability to handle key issues as president. About a third are highly confident in his ability to handle immigration, national security, and the economy and jobs. Confidence declines when it comes to lowering costs and handling health care. Another 1 in 5 are moderately confident in his ability to tackle most issues.
Roughly half the public has moderate to high confidence in Trump’s ability to handle immigration, national security, and the economy and jobs. A majority are skeptical about his ability to lower costs and manage health care.
Republicans express greater confidence in Trump than Democrats or independents. Sixty-eight percent of Republicans are extremely or very confident in his ability to handle the economy, jobs, and national security. Confidence is even higher for immigration, with 72% of Republicans expressing strong trust in his approach. However, a smaller proportion of Republicans have high confidence in Trump’s ability to reduce food costs (44%), housing costs (39%), address health care issues (46%), or lower health care costs (33%).
Few adults favor some of Trump’s proposed policies ahead of his second term. His most popular policy proposal involves eliminating taxes on earnings from tips. Fifty-four percent favor this policy, while only 22% oppose it. There is less support for policies including pardoning people who participated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, eliminating the debt ceiling, imposing tariffs on goods from other countries, or eliminating protections for transgender students under Title IX.
These policies garner greater support among Republicans. Sixty-six percent of Republicans favor increasing oil drilling on federal land, and 68% support eliminating taxes on earnings from tips. Additionally, 56% favor imposing tariffs on imported goods, while half support eliminating Title IX protections for transgender students. Fewer Republicans back eliminating the debt ceiling (27%) or pardoning individuals involved in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol (43%).
Most adults are looking for Congress to make progress on issues even it means compromising their positions. A majority think Republicans and Democrats in Congress should prioritize compromise to get things done over sticking to their positions if it means achieving less. This view is bipartisan, with 73% of Republicans believing their party should compromise and 77% of Democrats expressing the same about theirs.
The nationwide poll was conducted January 9-13, 2025, 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 1,147 adults. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3.9 percentage points for all respondents.
Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. “Most adults are skeptical that Trump can address costs and other economic issues.” (January 2025). https://apnorc.org/projects/most-adults-are-skeptical-that-trump-can-address-costs-and-other-economic-issues/
