People

• Trump began his second term by matching a record-high 52% approval from March 2017, but voters have steadily soured on his job performance since his second inauguration.
• At a similar point in Trump’s first term, 46% of voters approved and 48% disapproved of his job performance.

• Trump’s favorability ratings remain underwater, which has been the case more often than not since he took office.
• Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) face low awareness from the electorate, though voters are more likely to view them negatively than positively.
• In a broader sense, voters have similar views on congressional Democrats and Republicans. That’s a significant change from last Congress, when Democrats tended to be more popular among the electorate.
  

Policy

• Voters are most likely to want Trump to focus on lowering prices for goods and services, and specifically health care affordability, following a campaign that was dominated by voters’ concerns about inflation.
• Amid his and Elon Musk’s high-profile efforts with the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, just 25% of voters say that a reduction in the size and scope of the U.S. government should be a “top priority,” marking a record low.

• More voters than not still approve of Trump’s handling of most issues, with the president receiving his best ratings on immigration (54%) and national security (52%).
• Trump faces the highest disapproval ratings (47%) on his handling of the economy, trade, health care and abortion.

• Republicans hold advantages over Democrats on trust to handle the immigration, national security, and the national debt.
• Voters are much more likely to trust Democrats to handle health care, LGBTQ+ rights, abortion and Medicare and Social Security.
• Voters are closely divided over whom they trust to handle the economy, taxes, trade and energy.

News

• Few voters say they’ve heard much about Johnson or Thune as the two work with Trump to plot his legislative strategy. 
• News sentiment about the two parties in Congress tended to be negative in the lead-up to the inauguration, though Republicans have generally performed better by the metric.

• Voters were 10 points more likely to hear something negative than positive about national security amid “Signalgate” coverage, the worse net buzz rating we’ve measured since Trump took office in January.
• Following Trump’s inauguration, Republican voters are increasingly likely to say that they’re hearing positive things about issues such as the immigration, national security and public safety.
• As was the case throughout much of the 2024 campaign, immigration remains the most salient issue voters are hearing about in the news, with roughly 7 in 10 saying they'd heard something recently about it.

• 43% of voters said they had seen, read or heard “a lot” about Trump announcing 25% tariffs on all automobiles and automobile parts imported to the United States, similar to the share who said the same of his steel tariffs that were launched in February.
• More than 2 in 5 voters heard nothing at all about Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) referring to Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) as “governor hot wheels.” Republican voters were twice as likely as Democrats to say they’d heard “a lot” about her comments (30% to 15%), marking one of the largest partisan consumption gaps in that direction so far this year.