New Poll Suggests Americans Approve of Trump Transition Process by Wide Margin

Every nominee currently awaiting Senate confirmation that was included in the poll has a net positive approval rating.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Please listen to the guy who won a landslide election, where voters have given him a major mandate for change. President Trump and Melania Trump during an Election Night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 6, 2024, at West Palm Beach, Florida. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Trump is now enjoying that much talked-about honeymoon following his electoral victory, as the overwhelming majority of Americans tells pollsters that they approve of how the president-elect is handling his transition process so far. 

According to a new survey from CBS News and YouGov, 59 percent of Americans say they approve of the post-election staffing and policy announcements, while just 41 percent disapprove. The poll was conducted between Wednesday and Friday, which is the day Trump announced his latest slate of cabinet appointees. 

Trump appointees themselves are getting fairly good marks from poll respondents. Of those asked, 44 percent said they have a good feeling about Senator Rubio being nominated as secretary of state, while just 25 percent said they have a bad feeling. Nearly half — 47 percent — of poll respondents say they approve of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as secretary of health and human services, and just 34 percent say they disapprove. 

Even Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth — who have been nominated to be director of national intelligence and secretary of defense, respectively — are above water with voters. Both are seen as facing uphill fights in the Senate for confirmation, however. 

For Ms. Gabbard, 36 percent say her nomination is good and just 27 percent say it was a bad choice. For Mr. Hegseth, 33 percent approve of him leading the Pentagon, and 28 percent say they disapprove. 

Congressman Matt Gaetz was the only cabinet nominee who had net negative support from Americans, though his nomination was pulled just one week after Trump made the announcement that he would stand for the attorney general post. 

According to the poll, Americans say Trump’s first priorities must be to bring down inflation and begin his deportations of illegal immigrants. A supermajority of Americans — 79 percent — say combating inflation and lowering the price of goods must be a high priority for the new administration. 

In a somewhat surprising turn, mass deportations have also turned out to be somewhat popular. Shortly after the 2016 election, Democrats and liberals promised to resist Trump’s leadership, especially his restrictions on illegal immigration. Now, it appears people of all political stripes are warming to his ideas. 

In total, 45 percent say the deportations must be a “high priority” and 28 percent say it must be a “medium priority.” Among those voters under 30 years of age, 31 percent say deportations must be high on the to-do list. The survey also shows 20 percent of Democrats say it is a high priority. Among Black Americans, 31 percent say the same, along with 38 percent of Hispanic Americans. 

The partisan breakdown of that approval is stark, however. The poll shows that 85 percent of Democrats are either “scared” or “concerned” about what Trump plans to do over the course of the next four years, while just five percent of Republicans say the same. 

Trump’s honeymoon may be even longer than usual this year given how dissatisfied Americans are with how things are going. Just 36 percent of Americans say things are going either very or fairly well, and President Biden has just a 39 percent approval rating. Just 50 percent say that America’s best days are ahead.


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