Trump's Trials - Trump Begins Presidency In Delicate Position, Poll Finds

Episode Date: January 15, 2025

As Donald Trump prepares to once again assume the office of the presidency, a new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finds that, despite his claims of an "unprecedented and powerful mandate," Trump may have to be careful about how far he decides to go with what he wants to do. Support NPR and hear every episode sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I'm Scott Detro and you're listening to Trump's Terms from NPR. We will have really great strong people. Donald Trump is unstoppable. Make America healthy again. The future is going to be amazing. Each episode we bring you NPR's latest coverage of the incoming Trump administration and the people who will run it. Cabinet secretaries, political advisors, military leaders,

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The indicator for Plano Money is diving into the world of batteries. Not the kind you buy at the grocery store. We're talking really big batteries, the kind that can power thousands of homes. This technology came seemingly out of nowhere. We're digging deep into the battery industry in three back-to-back episodes. Listen to the Indicator from Planet Money podcast on NPR. I'm Leila Faldon. Inauguration Day is Monday, and this morning we have our first measure of how people feel about the policy priorities of the second Trump administration. A new NPR-PBS News Marist poll finds reviews are mixed. NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro has been digging into the

numbers and joins me now. Good morning. Morning, Leila. So what does the poll show about how people feel about President-elect Trump? Well, not much has changed in views of him. I mean, despite winning in November, Trump continues to get more unfavorable than favorable ratings. 44% of a positive view of him, 49% of a negative one. That's not unusual for Trump. He had a net negative favorability in every single Marist poll since 2016. What might be important in the survey is how people feel about

the things he wants to actually do, like mass deportations, pardoning people convicted for attacking the Capitol on January 6th, which he's promised to do, and tariffs on goods from other countries. Well, how do people feel about those promises? Well, people are evenly divided on whether to deport all immigrants in the US without legal status. So how that's done is going to be a real test. On pardoning people convicted for attacking the Capitol, respondents overwhelmingly were against it.

62% said that they were opposed to Trump doing that. And on tariffs, 48% said that they think that they'll hurt the economy. Only 31% said that they think that they'll hurt the economy. Only 31% said that they think that they will help. Those are some real warning signs, I think, for Trump because he's claimed an unprecedented and powerful mandate. But in reality, presidents often overread their election mandates and wind up overreaching, which can really hurt them politically. So we'll see.

The thing is, a big reason Trump obviously was elected was because of prices and inflation. And frankly, he's garnered more attention in the run up to his inauguration, you know, for talking about Greenland annexing Canada, or renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Okay, so you talk about prices, inflation, certainly a big reason why Trump won. What does our poll show about how people are feeling about it now? Optimism is actually pretty high. 44% say that they believe their family's financial situation is going to be better in the next year.

Just 22% thought that it would get worse. That 44% is the highest in the 15 years of Marist asking this question. Why do they feel that way? Well, consider that 59% right now say that the economy is not working for them. Just before the pandemic, 66% said the economy is not working for them. Just before the pandemic, 66% said the economy was indeed working for them. So it might be some nostalgia for that pre-pandemic economy when Trump was president, but that's going to mean some big economic expectations too.

Now, the survey also asked about President Biden. What did it find? Yeah, I mean, it was not a rosy picture at all for President Biden. I mean, in this final Marist poll of Biden's presidency, as he prepares to leave the White House, just 42% approve of the job he's doing. And to make matters worse for him, most think that he'll go down as a below average president. 53% said he'd either be below average or one of the worst presidents. 47% said that they think that he'll be seen as average or better, which by the way is actually 10 points better than what people thought of President Trump on his way out the door the first time. But of course, Trump's got another crack at how to

try to fix his legacy. Now, the hearings for Trump's nominees for the cabinet continue today. What did the polls show about some of them? Well, largely people don't know a lot about who they are. You know, Pete Hegseth, for example, who faced questions yesterday for Secretary of Defense, 55% said that they were unsure of what to make of him at this point. So the hearings are a real chance for these nominees to show that they can stand up to the scrutiny when it will also be the first time a lot of people are going to be hearing

from them. I'm here, Senior Political Editor and Cor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Thank you Domenico. You're so welcome. And before we wrap up, a thank you to our NPR Plus supporters who hear each show without sponsored messages and of course who help protect independent journalism. If you are not a supporter yet, you can visit plus.npr.org to find out how you can get a ton of podcast perks across dozens of NPR shows, like bonus episodes, exclusive merchandise, and more.

Again, that's plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detro. Thanks for listening to Trump's Terms from NPR. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Fresh Air up first, NPR News Now, Planet Money, Ted Radio Hour through line, the NPR Politics Podcast, Code Switch, Embedded, Books We Love, Wildcard are just some of the podcasts you can enjoy sponsor free with NPR+. Get all sorts of perks across more than 20 podcasts with the bundle option. Learn more at plus dot

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