Slightly more Americans approve than disapprove of the job President Trump is doing, even as they have mixed views on the actions he has taken in his attempt to reshape the federal government, the first set of polls after his inauguration show.
Support is high for some of Mr. Trump’s actions, including many of his immigration proposals, while other actions, such as pardoning the Jan. 6 rioters, have proved to be deeply unpopular. The polls echo those taken immediately before the inauguration, which showed an electorate that was broadly open to many of Mr. Trump’s ideas even as many people disagreed with some of his specific plans.
The sometimes conflicting ideas voiced by voters in the polls may also serve as a reminder that roughly one-third of Americans consistently say that they do not pay much attention to the news at all.
About half of voters approve of Mr. Trump’s job in office so far, according to an average across recent polling, and less than 45 percent disapprove. That is a far lower approval rating than other presidents enjoyed as they took office, but it’s better than Mr. Trump’s approval rating at the beginning of his first term in 2017, according to data compiled by FiveThirtyEight.
Just over a week past the inauguration, it is difficult to gauge precisely how the public feels about specific actions Mr. Trump has taken. Public opinion polling often takes several weeks to accurately assess current events, and the flurry of news out of the new administration could be hard for many Americans to keep up with. Still, the early polls provide some sense of public opinion.
A poll by Quinnipiac University taken from Jan. 23 to Jan. 27 found that more Americans approved than disapproved of Mr. Trump’s approach to immigration so far, with 60 percent of voters supporting sending troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. However, just 30 percent of voters supported an end to birthright citizenship, according to the poll, with more than 60 percent of voters supporting it.
The same poll found that 57 percent of voters, including 19 percent of Republicans, disapproved of Mr. Trump’s decision to pardon those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll taken from Jan. 24 to Jan. 26, a slim plurality of Americans supported Mr. Trump’s decision to require government employees to return to the office full time, and 61 percent of Americans supported downsizing the federal government.
About 56 percent of Americans in the Reuters/Ipsos poll opposed withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate accord, and 55 percent opposed new tariffs or taxes on imported goods from Mexico. The Quinnipiac poll found that slightly more Americans believed tariffs would hurt the U.S. economy than believed they would help it.
A poll from the Republican pollster Echelon Insights, conducted from Jan. 22 to Jan. 24, found that more voters approved than disapproved of how Mr. Trump was handling the economy, immigration and foreign policy, even as less than 40 percent of voters believed the country was headed in the right direction.
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