Poll: Majority Thinks Trump Is Making Changes Too Quickly

Summary

Summary of NPR Politics Podcast Episode: "Poll: Majority Thinks Trump Is Making Changes Too Quickly"

Release Date: March 3, 2025

In this episode of The NPR Politics Podcast, hosts Sarah McCammon, Domenico Montanaro, and Mara Liasson delve into the latest NPR PBS News Marist Poll to assess American public opinion on President Donald Trump's policies. The discussion centers on Trump's approval ratings, economic strategies, foreign policy maneuvers, and the broader implications for the U.S. political landscape.

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1. Trump's Approval Rating: A Decline Noted

The episode opens with an analysis of President Trump's current standing among American voters. Domenico Montanaro highlights a significant decline in Trump's approval:

Domenico Montanaro [01:52]: "Trump has a 45% approval rating, which is lower, by the way, than any past president in the last since Gallup has been measuring that number."

This marks the lowest approval rating Trump has received compared to all previous presidents, indicating deepening divisions within the electorate. Mara Liasson adds context by noting:

Mara Liasson [02:22]: "He's still underwater. He's never had a net Positive approval rating as president."

2. Economic Concerns: Rising Prices and Public Expectation

A critical focus of the poll is the American public's perception of the economy, particularly regarding inflation and price increases. Domenico Montanaro shares alarming statistics:

Domenico Montanaro [03:02]: "57% of people expect prices to go up in the next six months, which was the thing that I think is hard to argue is what got Trump in the White House in the first place."

This sentiment reflects voters' ongoing concerns about economic stability, a cornerstone of Trump's campaign promises. Sarah McCammon probes deeper into partisan perspectives:

Sarah McCammon [04:08]: "How does that break down, though, along party lines?"

Domenico Montanaro responds by contrasting Republican optimism with independent apprehension:

Domenico Montanaro [04:54]: "Republicans... Only a small percentage think that prices are going to go up. But the real problem for Trump here is with independents..."

3. Foreign Policy Shifts: Alignments and Realignments

Trump's foreign policy has been notably dramatic, with significant shifts that have raised questions among both supporters and critics. Mara Liasson provides an incisive analysis:

Mara Liasson [03:02]: "He just really likes somebody who's got a lot of power. And he sees this foreign policy, the Trump Doctrine, sort of as something that's more transactional..."

The administration's alignment with nations like Russia and North Korea, juxtaposed against traditional alliances with Western democracies, marks a stark departure from established U.S. foreign policy norms. Domenico Montanaro underscores the potential repercussions:

Domenico Montanaro [11:06]: "Trump has had very warm feelings, things he said very positively about a lot of strong men all over the world and autocratic leaders."

4. The Role of Elon Musk and Doge in Government Reshaping

A surprising element discussed is the influence of high-profile figures like Elon Musk and the impact of cryptocurrencies like Doge on federal government restructuring. Domenico Montanaro reveals low public favorability:

Domenico Montanaro [06:46]: "Only 39% of people have a positive view of Elon Musk and Doge."

This skepticism poses challenges for Trump, who may have considered leveraging Musk and Doge to bolster his administration's initiatives. Mara Liasson reflects on the political ramifications:

Mara Liasson [07:30]: "He is very polarizing and he may turn out voters for Republicans and against them just like Trump did."

5. U.S. Support for Ukraine: A Divided Opinion

The podcast examines American sentiments toward U.S. support for Ukraine amidst its ongoing conflict with Russia. Domenico Montanaro breaks down the poll results:

Domenico Montanaro [09:09]: "37% said that the US is not giving enough support to Ukraine. 34% think the US is giving Ukraine too much support. Another 28% say the US is giving about the right amount of support."

Combining those favoring increased or adequate support, a substantial 65% advocate for maintaining or enhancing assistance. Mara Liasson connects this stance to Trump's foreign policy challenges:

Mara Liasson [10:59]: "Trump is at very much at odds with American public opinion, even though foreign policy is not something that usually is a top priority for voters."

6. Checks and Balances: Public Doubts on System Functionality

A critical portion of the poll assesses Americans' trust in the nation's system of checks and balances. A majority express skepticism:

Domenico Montanaro [12:54]: "56% said that they don't think that the system of checks and balances is working effectively."

The breakdown reveals stark partisan divides, with Democrats and independents overwhelmingly disagreeing, while a significant majority of Republicans support the system as it stands. Mara Liasson elaborates on the implications:

Mara Liasson [13:25]: "Trump and his supporters are talking about impeaching judges."

This sentiment reflects growing concerns about the concentration of power and the undermining of institutional checks designed to prevent authoritarianism.

7. Looking Ahead: Implications for Future Elections

As the episode wraps up, the hosts contemplate the future political landscape. Domenico Montanaro warns of potential challenges for Republicans:

Domenico Montanaro [06:11]: "If independents continue to overwhelmingly disapprove... that could spell real trouble for Republicans, especially in the House."

With midterm elections on the horizon, the administration's policies and public perception could significantly influence electoral outcomes.

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Conclusion

This episode of The NPR Politics Podcast provides a comprehensive analysis of the current political climate surrounding President Trump's administration. From declining approval ratings and economic anxieties to controversial foreign policy shifts and doubts about governmental checks and balances, the discussion underscores the complexities and challenges facing the administration. As the nation approaches pivotal elections, these insights offer a valuable lens through which to understand the evolving dynamics of American politics.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Domenico Montanaro [01:52]: "Trump has a 45% approval rating, which is lower...than any past president..."

• Mara Liasson [02:22]: "He's still underwater. He's never had a net Positive approval rating as president."

• Domenico Montanaro [03:02]: "57% of people expect prices to go up in the next six months..."

• Domenico Montanaro [06:46]: "Only 39% of people have a positive view of Elon Musk and Doge."

• Mara Liasson [13:25]: "Trump and his supporters are talking about impeaching judges."

Transcript

[Scott Detrow]

Hey, it's Scott Detrow, the host of Trump's Terms, a podcast where we bring you short, focused episodes about the 47th president and the biggest changes he is trying to make. A lot of those changes will be front and center during his address to a joint session of Congress on March 4th. In the days after, we will bring you stories not just about what he said, but about what is actually happening and what isn't happening. Listen to Trump's Terms from npr.

[Stephen]

Hi, this is Stephen from Salt Lake City, Utah, where I'm driving home with a newly adopted 18 month old puppy to introduce her to my and surprise the kids.

[Mara Liasson]

Oh, boy.

[Stephen]

This podcast was recorded at 1:07pm Eastern.

[Sarah McCammon]

Time on Monday, March 3, 2025.

[Stephen]

Things may have changed by the time you hear it, but we'll still be learning to love this new addition to our family. Okay, here's the show.

[Mara Liasson]

The dogs of NPR welcome them.

[Sarah McCammon]

18 months is a great age, too, because you don't have to usually train them to do everything.

[Domenico Montanaro]

It's not like an eight week old, you know, or something like that, which would be a lot of work. But I have to giving a puppy as a surprise is not usually the best tactic.

[Sarah McCammon]

I was wondering, they must have been.

[Mara Liasson]

Begging for them for one for a long time. That's usually what happens.

[Sarah McCammon]

Hey there. It's the NPR Politics podcast. I'm Sarah McCammon, I cover politics.

[Domenico Montanaro]

I'm Domenico Montanaro, senior political editor and correspondent.

[Mara Liasson]

And I'm Mara Liasson, senior national political correspondent.

[Sarah McCammon]

Today on the show, a pulse check from the latest NPR PBS News Marist Poll. How are Americans reacting and responding to President Trump's policies so far? And is he making any headway on one of the chief messages of his campaign, which was, of course, addressing high costs and economic concerns? Domenico, we're gonna start with you. Before we get into some of the nitty gritty here, I just wanna take a broader look. What does Trump's approval rating look like overall?

[Domenico Montanaro]

What we found here is that Trump has a 45% approval rating, which is lower, by the way, than any past president in the last since Gallup has been measuring that number. So, you know, clearly Americans still very divided on Trump. I think one of the big warning signs for him in this poll is independence because only 34% of independents approve of the job that he's doing.

[Sarah McCammon]

And Mara, I mean, this is better than where Trump was when he left office in 2021, right?

[Mara Liasson]

That's right. But he's still underwater. He's never had a net Positive approval rating as president. And he is trying to do things that are very dramatic. Big changes. Now, Donald Trump ran as the change candidate. He was elected because people wanted to make big changes. But we don't know if they wanted to make the changes that he's making now, like completely upend US Foreign policy so that the US Is now aligned, at least in the last United nations vote, with Russia and North Korea and against the western democracies of Europe. We don't know if they wanted him to radically downsize the federal government. We just don't know the answer to that. We know that they wanted him to bring down the price of eggs.

[Domenico Montanaro]

57% of people expect prices to go up in the next six months, which was the thing that I think is hard to argue is what got Trump in the White House in the first place. He has said that, you know, he could fix it. He would fix the economy, he would fix prices. But after he was elected that, you know, the price of apples goes up, it doubles. What can you do? And that's it.

[Mara Liasson]

And when you have 57% of Americans saying they think the price of groceries will increase in the next six months, that affects inflation. Inflation is made up a lot of things, made up of supply chain problems. It's also made up of expectations. There's a psychology to this. If a majority of people think that groceries are gonna get more expensive, they're gonna change their behavior.

[Sarah McCammon]

Right. And he stressed that during the campaign because he knew what we knew, which is that voters were saying again and again that the economy was, if not their top issue, one of their very top issues. You know, Domenico, when you look at the numbers, though, it's so interesting that he just got elected largely on this issue. 57% of voters think now that prices are going to go up. How does that break down, though, along party lines?

[Domenico Montanaro]

Well, Republicans, you know, very much are in line with Trump. Only a small percentage think that prices are going to go up. But the real problem for Trump here is with independents, because he's underwater by 20 points with Independence when it comes to his approach on the economy. They think that it's gonna make things worse, and they overwhelmingly think that prices are gonna be going up. And look, that's a big part of this is because of all the conversation around tariffs. We know that tariffs are supposed to, he says, go into effect tomorrow, but there's some question whether or not he'll actually do that because the stock market has responded negatively to that. Every single time that he's threatened those.

[Sarah McCammon]

Tariffs so his supporters are still happy and optimistic, but. But, you know, the rest of the country is worried about prices. I mean, does any of this matter, though? He doesn't have to run for reelection. The midterms are still a couple years away.

[Mara Liasson]

See, that's the big question. Trump is such a different president in so many ways, and one of the most, the biggest, is that he's an automatic lame duck. He's barred by the Constitution from running again. So public opinion is not as much of a guardrail for him as it would be for other presidents. The markets still are. You know, he seems to react to them. If they freak out about tariffs, he pulls back, at least temporarily. And that's why this whole presidency might be completely different in terms of public opinion. I don't think he's thinking about, how can I be as popular as possible? So JD Vance becomes the next president. That's not an issue for him. But he wants to prove a couple things, things that he really believes in, like tariffs are the answer to all economic problems, or dismantling the federal government will make America better.

[Domenico Montanaro]

Well, I do think, though, that Republicans, elected leaders are gonna be the ones who feel the, you know, either the good things that happen from how people feel about what Trump does or the fallout from what he does politically.

[Mara Liasson]

That's for sure.

[Domenico Montanaro]

And they have a very narrow majority in the House. And if independents continue to overwhelmingly disapprove, as they are of what Trump is doing, and Democratic opposition continues to be strong and they show up at the polls, that could spell real trouble for Republicans, especially in the House.

[Sarah McCammon]

Okay, before we take a break, we have to talk about Elon Musk and Doge. I mean, Mara, I think mentioned a moment ago the just enormous reshaping of the federal government that the Trump administration is trying to do. A lot of that is being led by Elon Musk. How are people feeling about Musk and Doge?

[Domenico Montanaro]

Well, Musk and Doge both only have a 39% favorability rating, so only 39% of people have a positive view of Elon Musk and Doge. So in some respects, Trump can use Musk as a heat shield. And all the negative things that people feel about the cuts rushing into things, as a majority of people in our poll say that they think that Trump has rushed into these cuts without thinking about the impact, that he can use Musk and maybe cut him off when he needs to. But really, people don't think very highly of either Doge or Musk. And 60% of people think that federal Workers are essential to making government work. Only 40% think that the government would be fine without most of them.

[Mara Liasson]

And, you know, we're going to have a real controlled experiment about the political impact of Elon Musk. Like Trump, he is very polarizing and he may turn out voters for Republicans and against them just like Trump did. We have an election coming up on April 1st. It's in Wisconsin. It's a for a seat on the state Supreme Court. And it's very, it's the first election of the cycle with national implications because the Wisconsin State Supreme Court will probably draw congressional district maps. And Elon Musk is pouring money into that race, and Democrats are going to make him an issue. And it'll be really interesting to see if his money is a net positive for Republicans or does he become a lightning rod.

[Sarah McCammon]

Okay, it's time for a quick break. We'll have more in just a moment.

[Hey Martinez]

Hey, it's. Hey, Martinez. I work on a news show. And yeah, the news can feel like a lot on any given day, but you just can't ignore la noticias when important world changing events are happening. So that is where the Upverse podcast comes in. Every single morning in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to 33 essential stories so you can keep up without feeling stressed out. Listen to the up first podcast from npr.

[Sarah McCammon]

And welcome back. Some of the biggest news last week was the meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The two had that major, very public dispute at the White House over policy related to U.S. support for Ukraine in the war with Russia, which has entered its third year. So Domenico, the poll was taken, we should say, before that event. But what do the poll numbers tell us about how Americans have been feeling about Ukraine?

[Domenico Montanaro]

Well, it looks like a little bit of a mixed bag, but we can break these down. 37% said that the US is not giving enough support to Ukraine. 34% think the US is giving Ukraine too much support. Another 28% say the US is giving about the right amount of support. But if you combine that 37% who think that the US isn't giving enough support and those who say that the US Is giving the right amount, meaning they likely want to see it continued. That's two thirds of people in this poll, 65%. So this idea that the US that the population wants to cut off support to what has been a traditional ally against a traditional adversary is really Trump sort of swimming upstream with his revolutionary foreign policy here.

[Sarah McCammon]

Right. So most Americans are saying, keep it where it is in terms of the amount of support or even increase it. Mara, what do you make of that breakdown?

[Mara Liasson]

Well, what's interesting to me is that to what extent is the debate about Ukraine becoming a debate about Vladimir Putin and how close Trump is to him, how much he identifies with him. He talked about the two of them going through this horrible experience together of the investigation that led to Trump's impeachment, of how much Russia supported him in the 2016 election. So I think if this question gets drawn as kind of pro Putin, anti Putin, you'll see those numbers. Numbers be even stronger for Ukraine because the American people don't like Vladimir Putin. There is a big chunk of the maga, right, that I. That likes him because he's a kind of conservative culture warrior, anti LBGTQ rights, et cetera. But this is one place where Trump is at very much at odds with American public opinion, even though foreign policy is not something that usually is a top priority for voters.

[Sarah McCammon]

Does it matter, though, again? And does it shape Trump's policy at all?

[Mara Liasson]

Mm, doesn't look like it is so far, that's for sure.

[Domenico Montanaro]

I mean, Trump has had very warm feelings, things he said very positively about a lot of strong men all over the world and autocratic leaders. Even going back to his first term, he's done this pretty consistently. He just really likes somebody who's got a lot of power. And he sees this foreign policy, the Trump Doctrine, sort of as something that's more transactional, more he would say America first and less about alliances, sort of turning away from America's friends. Post World War II, this idea of what the United States is gonna be. Trump is really trying to reshape what that means.

[Mara Liasson]

Right. But he's not reshaping the US into being a kind of neutral bystander or someone who. Or just an isolationist country. He actively. He parrots Kremlin talking points. He calls the president of Ukraine a dictator, but he won't call Putin a dictator. He won't say that Russia invaded Ukraine. He says Ukraine started the war. So this has gone farther than just. He kind of likes strongmen. He's actively siding with Russia. And that vote in the United nations, which was on the third anniversary of the invasion, and it was a motion to condemn Russia, you know, there the United States was refusing to sign on and siding with North Korea, Belarus and Russia, definitely.

[Domenico Montanaro]

It's one of the biggest things that's happened since he was sworn in.

[Mara Liasson]

Yeah.

[Sarah McCammon]

I wanna close by asking you both about another item. In that poll that caught my eye, it asked whether or not the nation's system of checks and balances, which is of course a fundament part of the American system of government, whether or not that's working. And most people, a majority, said they don't think it is. Although here again, there's a partisan divide in how they look at that question. So what does it mean for the future of the country if Americans don't think the system is functioning as it was designed?

[Domenico Montanaro]

Yeah, and let's get to the numbers first, 56% said that they don't think that the system of checks and balances is working effectively. That included 8 in 10 Democrats and 2/3 of independents who either disagree or strongly disagree that the country's system of checks and balances is working. Well, 72% of Republicans, though, strongly agree or agree that the system is functioning effectively because they fully support what Donald Trump is doing. For the most part.

[Mara Liasson]

You know, Donald Trump has a very radically different view of how the government should work. The founders set up a system of broadly distributed power, three CO/ government, so that if someone was elected with what they would have called monarchical tendencies or authoritarian tendencies tendencies, the system would prevent that person from doing too much damage. Well, Trump and the people around him believe in something called a unitary executive. They want a vastly empowered president. Congress right now has pretty much abdicated its role as a, as a check on the executive branch. And Trump and his supporters are talking about impeaching judges. So he's going after the judicial branch, which is supposed to be the ultimate check on the executive, the branch that decides whether what the executive is doing is constitutional or not. And this hasn't come to a head, but it will, because a lot of the things that Trump is doing are headed for the Supreme Court.

[Domenico Montanaro]

But he wants unchecked power and he's testing the limits of just how far a president can take things.

[Sarah McCammon]

And we are going to leave it there for today. Just a programming note, we will be in your feed late tomorrow night. That's because President Trump is addressing a joint session of Congress Tuesday evening. You can hear that live on your NPR station or on the NPR app beginning at 9pm Eastern time. And we will be around after that with analysis and takeaways from the speech. I'm Sarah McCammon. I cover politics.

[Domenico Montanaro]

I'm Domenico Montanaro, senior political editor and correspondent.

[Mara Liasson]

And I'm Mara Liasson, senior national political correspondent.

[Sarah McCammon]

And thank you for listening to the NPR Politics podcast.