What do voters and non-voters really think about Donald Trump?

Donald Trump is the most famous person in, arguably, the world. His name was googled more than any other in 2024, 2023, 2021, and 2019. To better understand how American adults feel about this ubiquitous figure, we asked each of the 1,063 respondents in the Marquette Law School Poll national survey of adults, December 2-11, 2024, to answer two questions in their own words.

  • What do you like about Donald Trump?
  • What do you dislike about Donald Trump?

The order of the two questions was randomized. Since the survey was conducted online, respondents could write as much as they wished. (These “open-ended questions” were part of a more traditional survey, the subject of separate news releases.)

In the 2024 election, 36% of our sample voted for Kamala Harris, 38% for Donald Trump, 3% for a third-party candidate, and 23% didn’t vote. The sample gets the mix of Harris and Trump supporters right, though it overrepresents voters as a whole. Early estimates suggest that about 36% of eligible voters didn’t participate in the 2024 election.

We classified each of the respondents by whether or not they answered both questions. A majority—51% of respondents—listed at least one thing they liked and disliked about Trump. (We classified clearly sarcastic responses as non-answers.) Listing things they dislike about Trump but including nothing positive were 35%. Fewer adults, 12%, listed positive things about Trump but nothing negative.

Perceptions of Trump and vote choice

The table below shows how each of those groups voted in 2024. Trump and Harris each won equal shares of the adults (76%) with, respectively, only positive or only negative views of the former president. Among those listing both likes and dislikes of Trump, 55% voted for Trump, 17% for Harris, 4% for a third party, and 24% did not vote.

In other words, just over a third of adults held wholly negative views of Trump and just over 10% held wholly positive views. Their votes reflect those views. But Trump won the lion’s share of the vote among people with mixed views of him.

2024 vote of U.S. adults by their view of Trump
About Donald J. Trumpnpct of totalHarrisTrumpThird partyNonvoter
Can name likes and dislikes54551%17%55%4%24%
Doesn’t dislike anything12612%1%76%3%20%
Doesn’t like anything37335%76%1%1%22%
no answer192%31%18%6%46%
Total1,063100%36%38%3%23%

These data also shed some light on how Trump managed to defeat Harris after losing to Joe Biden in 2020. We asked respondents about their participation in the 2020 presidential election. Thirty-five percent remembered voting for Biden, 31% for Trump, 3% for third parties, and 31% said they didn’t vote. Recalled vote may be error-prone, but in this case it closely matches Joe Biden’s 4.5-point margin of victory in 2020.

Harris won about the same share as Biden had among the 35% of adults who couldn’t name anything they like about Trump. Like Biden, she won practically none of the vote among those who dislike nothing about Trump. And Harris won about the same fraction of the vote as Biden among those naming both likes and dislikes about Trump.

While Harris’ vote share changed little from Biden’s in each group, Trump’s vote share grew among those with mixed feelings. Trump won 55% of adults with mixed feelings, up from 46% in 2020. This was possible because the share that did not vote in this group fell from 33% in 2020 to 24% in 2024. Likewise, Trump in 2024 won 76% of the vote among those expressing no negative views of him, up from 59% among these same adults in 2020. And only 20% of these adults didn’t vote in 2024, down from 38% in 2020.

2020 vote of U.S. adults by their view of Trump in Dec. 2024
among adults surveyed Dec. 2-11, 2024
About Donald J. Trumpnpct of totalBidenTrumpThird partyNonvoter
Can name likes and dislikes54551%18%46%3%33%
Doesn’t dislike anything12612%2%59%1%38%
Doesn’t like anything37335%71%1%2%25%
no answer192%23%18%6%54%
Total1,063100%35%31%3%31%

In our December 2024 sample, Harris defeated Trump by 3 percentage points among 2024 voters who also voted in 2020. Among 2024 voters who didn’t vote in 2020, she lost by 12 points.

Our survey is just one data point in a sense, but it adds to the emerging body of evidence that Trump’s campaign successfully turned out infrequent, “low-propensity” voters who like Trump but often stay home.

Explore the data

There is no substitute for reading the words of voters themselves. Click here to access our web app for viewing responses. The tool allows you to see 5 randomly* selected responses with each click of the button. Some of these responses contain profane language and many contain typos. We present them in unedited form.

RespondentSample random responses
Vote in 2024Vote in 2020What do you like about Donald Trump?What do you dislike about Donald Trump?
Male, 34, HispanicDonald TrumpDonald TrumpBusiness plans to bring back production to America, and border controlGrandiose attitude and speaking without thinking about the consequences.
Male, 27, Other/MultipleDid not voteDid not voteGood president for economic purposes. In my opinion, prefer trump over kamalaTariffs for other countries are too much
Female, 50, WhiteDonald TrumpDonald TrumpHis policies of smaller gov’t and less regulations which will open America up to less restrictions on oil and gas. Also his policies on immigration and closing the border align with my views.His mouth and some of the unprofessional things he says
Female, 44, BlackKamala HarrisJoe BidenHe doesn’t care at allHim personally
Male, 49, WhiteDonald TrumpDid not votePolicies, strength globally, strong economy. Strong border security.Nothing. Donald Trump was an excellent president before and will be excellent again.
Female, 51, Other/MultipleDid not voteJoe BidenI feel like when Donald Trump was president we had peace with other countries and the fact it was no inflation and the crime was more controlledN/A
Continue ReadingWhat do voters and non-voters really think about Donald Trump?

Remembering Justice David T. Prosser, Jr.

David T. Prosser, Jr., a prominent figure in Wisconsin for the last forty-five years, held many significant positions during his distinguished career of public service: Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice, Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, Commissioner of the Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission, and Outagamie County District Attorney, among others. But after he passed away this month at the age of 81, those who gathered to celebrate his life remembered him not only as a hard worker and skilled jurist but also—and perhaps more importantly—as a trusted mentor, loyal friend, and devoted family member.

In my personal experience, Justice Prosser certainly deserved those accolades. I served as his law clerk during the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s 2004-2005 term. That year we worked elbow to elbow, and I observed firsthand his skill as a writer, his work ethic, and his wry wit. Upon arriving at the state capitol in early August 2004, fresh out of Marquette Law School, I was as nervous as could be. Justice Prosser immediately put me at ease, and although I made many mistakes, he never lost patience with me. That year on the Court was perhaps the greatest experience of my professional career and I often reflect on those times. I certainly would not be where I am today without him.

As with many of those whose lives he touched, Justice Prosser always had my best interests in mind. He kept in touch with me and followed my career even long after I worked for him. A few years after my clerkship had ended, I needed a letter of recommendation in a short time frame during a busy period at the court. He agreed to write on my behalf. After apologizing for the quick turnaround, I asked when he might be able to get it in the mail—to which he answered, “we’ll see.” The next evening, there was a knock at my door. There on my doorstep was Justice Prosser, with the letter in hand. He had not only written it in less than a day, but also driven two hours each way to ensure it arrived on time. I invited him in, but he declined, saying, “I’m sure you have better things to do than have dinner with me.” His humility was one of his defining features. My experience was not unique. Those gathered at his funeral told many stories of a similar nature, explaining how Justice Prosser dropped everything to help a friend or family member in need.

Justice Prosser was a great friend of Marquette Law School, often appearing at events, lectures, dinners, and the like. Many of his clerks were Marquette lawyers, and they went on to successful careers as judges and lawyers in a variety of practice settings. He was featured in the Summer 2017 edition of Marquette Lawyer magazine, highlighting how he enjoyed hiring law clerks from Marquette and how much they helped him.

The previous year, in an interview with the Wisconsin State Bar on the occasion of his retirement from the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2016, Justice Prosser said he wanted to be remembered as an important decision-maker, an independent thinker, and a storyteller. He was certainly all those things, but also much more to those of us who had the good fortune to know him. As we continue our journeys without him, we honor the person he was and the life he led. Rest in peace, Justice Prosser. You will be missed.

Continue ReadingRemembering Justice David T. Prosser, Jr.