Americans are deeply divided over Donald Trump’s plans and the way he is handling his job in the early weeks of his return to the presidency.

Overall, 47% of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling his job as president, while 51% say they disapprove. And most of these views are strongly held: 37% strongly approve of his performance, while 40% strongly disapprove.

Roughly a third (35%) say they support all or most of Trump’s policies and plans, with 17% saying they support some of them. Nearly half of adults (47%) say they support only a few or none of his plans.  

Most Americans (73%), including majorities of both Republicans and Democrats, say Trump has clear goals for where he wants to lead the country. But Republicans are more likely to say he’ll be successful at achieving those goals.

How does Trump’s approval so far stack up against his first term?

Trump’s current 47% approval rating is higher today than it was at the beginning of his first term in office.

His rating is also higher than at any other point in his first four-year term, and far higher than when he left office in early 2021 (Trump’s approval fell to 29% in the wake of the 2020 presidential election and his rejection of its results).

Trump’s job ratings remain as polarized by party as ever:

• 84% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents currently approve of the job Trump is doing.
• By comparison, just 10% of Democrats and Democratic leaners approve of Trump’s job performance.

The current partisan gap in Trump’s approval ratings is on par with much of his first term, though wider than in the last weeks of his term (when 60% of Republicans approved of his job performance).

Trump’s job approval among demographic groups

Today, Trump’s job approval stands at 47%, including 37% who say they strongly approve of the way he is handling his job as president. About half of Americans (51%) say they disapprove of Trump’s job performance so far, including four-in-ten who say they strongly disapprove.

Trump’s ratings are more positive than negative among:

• Men (52% approve)
• White adults (55%)
• Adults 50 years and older (51%)
• High school diploma or less (53%)

Trump’s ratings are more negative than positive among:

• Women (42% approve)
• Black adults (19%)
• Hispanic adults (36%)
• Under 50 years old (43%)
• College degree or more (40%)

Trump’s personal traits, skills, fitness for office

The public offers mixed assessments of Trump’s personal traits – including his leadership skills, mental fitness and physical fitness. 

• 40% of Americans are extremely or very confident Trump has the leadership skills to do the job, while 43% are not too or not at all confident he does (16% are somewhat confident).
• Similarly, 39% have high confidence in Trump’s mental fitness for the presidency, while 44% have little or no confidence in this and 16% have some.
• And while 35% are extremely or very confident Trump is physically fit for the job, 41% are not too or not at all confident of this (24% express some confidence).

On the three other dimensions asked about on the survey (choosing good advisers, acting ethically in office and respect for U.S. democratic values), substantially more Americans express little or no confidence in Trump than say they are extremely or very confident in him.

• 29% of Americans are at least very confident he acts ethically in office. A majority (54%) are not too or not at all confident he does.
• 31% are extremely or very confident he respects the country’s democratic values. A 53% majority lacks confidence in Trump on this trait.
• 31% are confident he picks good advisers, while 51% have little or no confidence that he does.

Republicans’ views of some of Trump traits more positive than during 2024 campaign

Among Republicans

Today, a majority of Republicans are at least very confident in Trump across all six traits asked about on the survey. In particular, Republicans express a great deal of confidence when it comes to his leadership skills (76%), mental fitness (75%) and physical fitness (65%).

Smaller majorities of Republicans express confidence that he acts ethically in office (55%), picks good advisers (60%) or respects the country’s Democratic values (60%).

Still, Republican confidence that Trump acts ethically and picks good advisers is higher than it was in April 2024.

Among Democrats

Democrats express little to no confidence in Trump on any of the dimensions asked about on the survey. These views are nearly identical to Democratic opinion in April 2024.

Will Trump be a successful or unsuccessful president in the long run?

Americans are divided in their views of whether the Trump administration will be successful in the long run.

While 35% say they think Trump will be successful in the long run, a similar share (33%) say they think he will be unsuccessful. Roughly three-in-ten (31%) say it is still too early to tell whether he will be successful.

In a Center phone survey from January 2017, at the start of Trump’s first administration, most Americans (58%) said it was too early to tell whether or not he would be a successful president. About equal shares predicted he would be successful (21%) as said he’d be unsuccessful (20%).

Today, far smaller shares say it is too early to tell what kind of president Trump will be – though those who offer a prediction remain divided about whether he will be successful or unsuccessful.

As has long been the case for presidents, partisans have very different predictions: About two-thirds of Republicans say Trump will be successful, while 63% of Democrats say he will be unsuccessful. The reverse was true when Joe Biden took office.

Trump’s agenda, plans and early executive actions

Americans are also split in their support for Trump’s policies and plans, though more say they support few or none of Trump’s plans than say they support all or most of them.

About a third (35%) of U.S. adults say they support all (9%) or most (25%) of Trump’s policies and plans, with 17% saying they support some.

This compares with 47% of adults who support only a few (23%) or none (24%) of his plans.

Two-thirds of Republicans say they support all or most of Trump’s plans, while an even wider majority of Democrats – 84% – say they support only a few or none of Trump’s plans.  

The partisan divides in views of his plans and policies extend to early actions the administration has taken so far. While 53% of Republicans say these actions have been better than they expected, 60% of Democrats say the administration’s actions have been worse than they expected. More than a third of Americans (36%) – including similar shares in both partisan groups – say Trump’s actions have been about what they expected.

How much will Trump be able to accomplish?

Most Americans say Trump has clear goals for where he wants to lead the country (73%), but there is more disagreement over how much of his agenda he will be able to accomplish over the next four years.

• 92% of Republicans say Trump has clear goals for the country.
• A narrower majority of Democrats (55%) say the same.

But there is a larger partisan gap over whether he will achieve those goals:

• 54% of Republicans say Trump will get most or all of his agenda done, with an additional 39% saying he will accomplish some of his agenda. Just 6% say he’ll get “only a little” or none of his agenda accomplished over the next four years.
• Democrats are more skeptical: 23% say he’ll complete all or most of his agenda, while 53% say some and 24% say only a little or none.

Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons

Americans broadly disapprove of Trump’s “day one” pardons of most of those convicted of crimes related to the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

About three-quarters (74%) disapprove of Trump’s pardons of those convicted of violent crimes, while a narrower majority (54%) disapprove of Trump’s pardons for those convicted of nonviolent offenses.

There are partisan differences in views of both types of pardons, though the partisan gap is much narrower when it comes to those convicted of violent crimes.

When asked about pardons for nonviolent Jan. 6-related crimes:

• Nearly eight-in-ten Republicans (78%) approve of Trump’s pardons for these nonviolent offenders, while about two-in-ten (21%) disapprove.
• In contrast, 85% of Democrats disapprove of the pardons for nonviolent offenders.

As for pardons of violent crimes:

• Republicans are relatively split in their views of Trump’s pardons of those who committed violent crimes related to Jan. 6: 54% disapprove, while 45% approve.
• More than nine-in-ten Democrats (93%) disapprove of Trump’s decision to pardon those convicted of violent crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, events at the Capitol.

The Jan. 6 congressional committee and Biden’s pardons

Shortly before Joe Biden left office, he issued pardons to members of Congress and congressional staff who worked on the committee that investigated the events of Jan. 6, as well as to police officers who testified before that committee.

• 46% of Americans approve of these pardons, while 52% disapprove.

Republicans and Democrats hold starkly different views of these pardons:

• 72% of Democrats approve of Biden’s pardons, and 26% disapprove.
• Republicans’ views are nearly the reverse: 78% disapprove, while 22% approve.

Thinking back to the Jan. 6 committee investigation, about half of Americans (49%) are very or somewhat confident the investigations were fair and reasonable, while the same share (49%) are not confident they were.

As was the case in 2022, Democrats are more than three times as likely as Republicans (76% vs. 22%) to express confidence in the committee’s investigation.