Trump gets middling grades on Americans' top issues, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

WASHINGTON: Americans give President Donald Trump middling marks on his handling of the economy and efforts to shrink the government and are unimpressed by some of the early fights he has picked, such as proposals to take over Gaza, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows.

The poll, conducted February 13-18, asked more than 4,000 U.S. adults nationwide whether they supported a range of positions staked out by Trump and how much the issues would motivate them to vote in the future. The results point to Trump putting considerable effort into policies that many Americans don’t like, or don’t consider very important.

A wave of frustration over prolonged inflation helped power Trump to victory in November, and a majority of respondents — 58% — said inflation would be a major factor in deciding their vote in future elections. But just 32% approved of the job Trump was doing on inflation.

Views of the economy by households deteriorated this month to the lowest level in over a year, according to a widely followed survey by the University of Michigan.

Just 25% of respondents — and only half of Republicans — said they supported Trump’s idea of having the U.S. government take over Gaza and resettle Palestinians elsewhere.

“I thought that was a moronic idea because it’s infeasible,” Willard Moore, a Republican lawyer in New York City who participated in the poll, referring to the Gaza proposal. “If you did it, it would cost a lot of money, and at the end what would you have, some sort of resort? Like, what good is that for anyone?”

A notable portion of Trump’s 2024 voters broke with some of the president’s early actions and ideas. About a third of Trump voters opposed the proposal to end birthright citizenship and one in five opposed his administration’s move to end diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Americans do consider Trump’s push to downsize government important, but are divided mostly along party lines on whether they support it. Sixty percent of respondents said the so-called Department of Government Efficiency task force for cutting federal spending, which is led by Elon Musk, would influence their vote in the next federal elections — 2026, when Democrats will seek to win back control of Congress. But only 42% of the country supports the endeavor and 53% oppose it.

“He’s just rushing a little bit. I think the whole thing with the DOGE is being rushed a little bit,” said Gerald Dunn, a Republican 66-year-old martial arts instructor from Staatsburg, in New York State’s Hudson Valley. “I like what he is doing but I think a lot of what he says is just BS. When he starts talking about annexing Greenland and annexing Canada, you know that’s just smoke.”

EDUCATION WORRY

Trump’s call to abolish the Department of Education — a move that would require Congress’ support — met with broad opposition, with 65% of respondents overall and four in ten Republicans opposed.

“I have a child who is on the spectrum, and I have the luxury to provide for her to go to school for children who have autism. If that was taken away, I wouldn’t know what I would do,” said Mikeriah Perry, a 25-year-old from Raleigh, North Carolina, who said she leans Democratic. “I wouldn’t have the proper resources to assist my child to be the best person they can be when it is time for them to go to the general public schools.”

Musk’s cost-cutting, however, is wildly popular among Trump’s hardline supporters – those in the survey who said they strongly identify with the president’s Make America Great Again, or MAGA, movement. Ninety-four percent of MAGA followers back the Musk-led effort and 78% said it would be a “very motivating” or “motivating” for them in future elections.

he same share of core MAGA voters consider increasing the deportation of illegal immigrants to be a big motivator for voting. It’s an issue that was at the center of Trump’s presidential campaign last year. Across all respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll, opens new tab, just over half – 55% – supported increasing deportations, compared to 41% who were opposed. But Trump’s performance on immigration was approved by less than half of respondents – 47%.

Trump also got mixed marks on his proposed tariffs, particularly on Canada. Fifty-nine percent of respondents, including a quarter of Republicans, rejected this idea.

“I struggle with things like picking a fight with Canada. Why are we picking a fight with Canada?” said Todd Wellman, a 49-year-old Republican from Indianapolis, who said he wrote in now-Vice President JD Vance as his choice for president in November.

Regardless of his doubts about Trump, he said he preferred him to Democratic predecessor Joe Biden and added of Trump: “I support the direction in which he’s trying to take us, but I don’t always support his methods or path in getting us there.”

The poll surveyed 4,145 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.