What Voters Want (and Don’t Want) to See From a Trump-Led Washington

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The red wave of 2024 has left Republicans in control of the White House, Senate and — more likely than not, it appears — the House as well. 

The implications of a GOP governing trifecta under the direction of President-elect Donald Trump would be vast, and a new Morning Consult survey gauging nascent attitudes about where they want to see Republicans take the country suggests there’s room for them to capitalize on the electoral wind in their sails, though there’s also clear evidence of the risk of the blowback, especially with regard to some of Trump’s economic plans.

According to our Nov. 6-7 survey of more than 2,000 registered voters, roughly half of voters (49%) say immigration reform should be a “top priority” for the federal U.S. government after Trump is sworn into office in January. 

That figure is roughly double the share who prioritized extending corporate and individual tax cuts, imposing tariffs on foreign goods and ending Democratic-enacted tax credits for the production of renewable energy sources via the Inflation Reduction Act. It also eclipses the respective 39% and 37% share of voters who prioritize building a U.S.-Mexico border wall and deporting undocumented immigrants — two prominent Trump campaign proposals.

Immigration proposals did not top the list for the broader electorate, who instead want to see Republicans focus on bringing down prescription drug prices and improving the country’s infrastructure. But they were the most important for Republican voters, who will carry the most weight given the realities of America’s political incentive structure.

Nearly 2 in 3 Republicans (65%) say Washington should turn its attention to immigration reform, compared with 36% of Democrats. More than 3 in 5 Republicans also said the government should prioritize building the wall or deporting undocumented immigrants.

Immigration

By the end of the 2024 campaign, two-thirds of voters said immigration was “very important” to their decision on Election Day, up from 50% in our last survey before the midterm elections. The issue — central to Trump’s winning 2016 campaign — also proved polarizing, generating a backlash that helped move public opinion away from his administration’s position in early 2017. But it’s clear the times have changed, with significantly fewer Americans feeling dovish on immigration than in early 2017.

According to our latest survey, 32% of voters say immigrants currently living in the United States illegally should be removed and deported, up from 22% in April 2017. That movement was driven largely by Republicans at 53%— up from 34% at the beginning of Trump’s first term.

Fewer Republicans (29%) say that “Dreamers,” undocumented immigrants with legal status who were brought to the United States illegally as children, should be deported. But that percentage is nonetheless larger than it was in 2017. 

Trump’s first term in office was also marked by attempts to restrict legal immigration to the United States, and while attitudes on that topic have proven more static over the years, our data suggests there is cause for concern among businesses reliant on migrant labor.  

For example, the bulk of GOP voters (44%) say America accepts “too many” low-skilled workers, compared with a third of the overall electorate who said the same. Fewer Republicans and voters overall believe the country accepts too many high-skilled workers.

The economy

With individual cuts from Trump’s signature 2017 tax law set to expire at the end of 2025, Republican leaders have already signaled that tax legislation is at the top of the agenda. While Republicans are focused on ways to cut taxes, there continues to be an “eat the rich” sentiment among the populace, including GOP voters.

Roughly 3 in 5 Republican voters support raising taxes on billionaires (61%) and those earning $400,000 or more (63%), slightly smaller than the 71% of the larger electorate that supports those policy proposals. There is also bipartisan support among voters for eliminating federal taxes on Social Security benefits, expanding the child tax credit or Trump’s campaign pitch to quash levies on tipped income.

Republicans diverge from other voters when it comes to lowering the corporate tax rate or tariff policy, the latter of which has been a favorite focus of the next commander-in-chief. The proposed 10% tariff on all imports is backed by 64% of Republican voters, compared with 43% of the overall electorate. Over half of Republicans (55%) support a 60% tariff on Chinese imports, compared with just 2 in 5 voters overall (39%).

Health care

If public opinion is trending conservative in the past few years, it’s moved the other way on health care, a political reality that Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will have to confront if they try to follow through on their suggested overhaul of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Compared with a survey conducted in April 2017, the share of voters who say Obamacare should be at least somewhat repealed fell 18 points (from 49% to 31%), with a similar level of movement among Republicans (from 76% to 54%). Notably, 28% of Republican voters said they want the health care law repealed completely — down from 44% before the GOP failed to do so in Trump’s first term.

In the years since that failed repeal effort, Obamacare’s popularity has surged — marking a warning sign for Republicans expressing interest in reopening the issue that helped fuel their losses in the 2018 midterm elections. 

According to the latest survey, a record-high 61% of voters approve of the Affordable Care Act, up from 51% in early 2017. The share of Republicans who disapprove of President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement has dropped from 68% to 51%, continuing a trend measured over Joe Biden’s presidency. 

As we mentioned at the top of this memo, there’s much broader support  addressing the price of prescription drugs, a matter that’s already at the center of industry-led lobbying campaigns.

The bottom line

Trump looks set to return to the White House with more of a mandate than he had in his first tenure in office. His net favorability rating is near even, a rarity in our tracking since the 2022 midterms, and his years at the party’s bully pulpit has produced a Republican caucus that will be less adversarial than ever. 

But as we’ve seen in recent election cycles, goodwill and patience is in short supply from an American electorate that tends to sour on its presidents shortly after the 100-day honeymoon. 

Trump’s trust advantage on immigration helped fuel his win, and his posture on the matter since he first stepped on to the political stage has left the American public closer to him than ever before, arming him with ample political capital on the issue after his inauguration. 

However, issues like taxes, tariffs and health care — not to mention foreign policy matters such as his aversion to the NATO alliance, which just 24% of voters supported withdrawing from in this survey — could prove divisive when he takes office, invigorating the Democratic opposition and sending swing voters their way ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.