The stability of Donald Trump’s approval rating was practically a meme during his first administration. No matter the headlines, scarcely any voters appeared to change their minds about the president, at least not when asked the simple question, Do you approve or disapprove of how Donald Trump is handling his job as president?
It remains to be seen whether Trump in his second term will enjoy (or suffer) from the same apparently locked-in public attitudes. But to shed more light into what Americans really think about him, the Marquette Law School Poll has begun asking two open-ended questions. What do you [like/dislike] about Donald Trump? We randomize the order of the two questions, and respondents can write whatever they want.
Each survey, we ask about 1,000 adults these questions. All but two or three percent share a response.
In December, 35% expressed entirely negative views of Trump, 12% were entirely positive, and 51% were mixed, sharing both likes and dislikes (the remaining 2% refused to answer). This changed only slightly in early 2025. The group with mixed opinions shrank by 4 percentage points, and the other categories grew by 1 or 2 points each.
| Summary of open-ended survey responses | ||
|---|---|---|
| in the Marquette Law School Poll, national adult sample | ||
| Attitude toward Donald Trump | survey dates | |
| 12/2-11/24 | 1/27-2/6/25 | |
| Can name likes and dislikes | 51% | 47% |
| Doesn’t dislike anything | 12% | 14% |
| Doesn’t like anything | 35% | 36% |
| no answer | 2% | 3% |
Donald Trump won in 2024 because he beat Harris by about 38 points among voters holding mixed views of him. He enjoyed especially high support among those who hadn’t voted at all in 2020.
Most of these people still approve of how Trump has begun his second term. However, Trump’s approval rating has slipped with this group, relative to December 2024.
In December 2024, 53% of adults approved (and 47% disapproved) of how Trump had handled his job during his first term. About a month into Trump’s second term, 48% approve and 52% disapprove of how Trump is currently handling his job.
The drop in approval is entirely due to lower views of Trump’s current job performance among those with more ambivalent views of him.
Among those who only listed things they like about Trump, 96% approved of his past job performance in the December poll and 96% likewise approve of his current job performance in the February poll.
Conversely, 97% of those with only negative things to say about Trump disapproved of his past job performance in December and disapprove of his current job performance in February.
But among those with mixed views of Trump, 77% gave him retrospective approval in December, falling to 67% approval in February.
Themes in the open-ended responses
Some voters express idiosyncratic combinations of views when given the opportunity. You’ll find the occasional conservative whose only complaint about Trump is his support for Israel or the odd Harris voter who dislikes Trump’s “racist attitude” but appreciates that he “doesn’t drink or smoke dope.”
But most responses fall into familiar categories. Here are a few themes that stood out to me.
- Outside of the 36% of adults who despise Trump, Trump’s hyper-aggressive first month in office is usually perceived favorably. Many people said things like, “he’s fulfilling campaign promises,” or “He has already done more in a few days than Biden did.”
- A common complaint among those who generally like Trump is his communication style. Some representative comments: “he talks too much”; “the way he talks, very crude”; and “mean tweets, rehearsing [sic] his wins in election too often.”
- On the other hand, even some people who disapprove of him like aspects of his communication. “Confidence, has charisma, is funny on occasion”; “He’s funny. He says what he thinks.”
- Quite a few people complained about Trump’s pardoning of the January 6th rioters, and few or none mentioned it favorably.
Finally, these data also undermine a point I have occasionally heard from conservative commentators. Referencing the more “muted” response to Trump’s second term from Democratic politicians and left-leaning organizations, some have argued that opposition toward Trump’s first term was largely an elite, media creation.
On the contrary, in reading these open-ended responses I see no diminution of opposition to Trump. If anything, the vitriolic tone may have intensified among those who like nothing about him. This group is not a majority of the country. It includes under 40% of adults in our sample, but is is more than twice as large as the group of people with only positive things to say about Trump.
During Trump’s first term, his opponents turned out at unusually high levels–flipping seats during special elections and midterms at a startling clip. Democrats will look to repeat that playbook in 2025 and 2026. The surprise victory of a Democratic candidate in a Trump +21 Iowa state senate district is a small, early indication that this strategy may work.
Explore the data
The above is just my interpretation of these responses. I strongly encouraged you to read them for yourself. 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.
I think that people who like Trump have been bamboozled by the Right leaning media. He is a convicted felon. MAGA cherry- picks the legitimacy of government institutions like fruit on sale: in one situation (holding Trump accountable) they say the courts have an agenda and are biased against him. When the courts are favorable, or, like the Supreme Court, biased towards Trump, the courts are legitimate and fair., It is the “heads I win, tails you lose” paradigm, which I wish they would grow out of. For God’s sake, Trump even says, if I WIN an election, it was fair. If I LOSE, the election was tampered with..
Trump is who he has always been. My concern lies with those who support him despite his criminal record, lack of truthfulness, bombastic speech, and penchant for authoritarian control. I am just as concerned about his cabinet choices, all ill-prepared for their respective roles but ready to heartily endorse anything at all that Trump, ever fickle, decides to promote. A perfect recipe for dictatorship.
I watched some street interviews of maga a while back, most of the ones who still support him say those charges were ‘made up by the EVIL media to make him look bad’ even though all the good things the media says are ‘obviously true’ (convenient, huh). Aka the people who support him are lacking a little in the ol critical thinking department
Both sides act in completely parallel universes. The D universe and the R universe. No different.
I think alot of people voted for Trump because they knew Kamala Harris was a joke. Most people are smart enough to know she could never run the country as she couldn’t even answer a simple question.
On another note, who was running our country the last couple of years? It’s apparent that it wasn’t Biden. Cover up after cover up by the left leaning media. And you wonder why Trump won. They keep saying the right is corrupt but time will tell the truth.
A lot of people voted for Trump simply because Kamala Harris was a woman. Had Kamala been a man with the same credentials and agenda this would’ve been a different situation. There may have been more votes to the other side. I bring this up because the only time Trump has ever won was against two women. The United States would never vote for a woman no matter what she brings to the table. Because if a woman had the same record as Trump she wouldn’t have even made to the ballot.
❤️ this. I say the same exact thing. Sad but true.
Yes, the ‘RIGHT,’ has become corrupt, especially being on the side of a very corrupt man to run our Country. But taken one step further; The Right of the politicians were pleased to see the end of Trump, especially the part he played on January 6th at our Nation’s Capitol. But then those who started feeling the way of a ‘bully,’ is the way to follow, and wanted him in Office again, which scared the Right Wings in DC and they started to become Cowardly Lions.. And the ‘LEFT,’ cannot be excused, as they are mighty stupid. But Trump is not a qualified man to run my Country. He is a FELON! His background is a shame, he’s good at scamming the public and very good at filing bankruptcy, all this has caused, what all of this has happened and caused is division. Before people could feel comfortable about their vote and vote for the one ‘they’, thought was the most competent. Neither one of these Candidates were competent! SHAME ON THE POLITICAL PARTIES! This is supposed to be the most important position to hold in this Country, maybe even the world, and look at what took place, not once, but AGAIN!
Trump is bringing Putin out of the cold. Even when facts are very clear Putin started the war with his illegal invasion of Ukraine he ( bizzarely) claims Ukraine started it. He even claimed Zelensky a Dictator ( he isn’t, he was democratically elected).
The world was absolutely mortified by this clap trap and the press made that absolutely clear in Europe.
However, Trumps supporters aren’t bothered and lap up his hopeless meanderings.
He is completely oblivious to the many many criticisms of his witterings. One former Trump Ambassador to Denmark ( Sands?) attempted an interview with the BBC about Trumps ludicrous ramblings about Ukraine starting the war. She point blank refused to answer any question asked her and then banged on about how he is the greatest President in history.
That’s the quality of his supporters. Remember, she was an Ambassador..
I dislike liberal progressives but this..?
He’s making it a more dangerous world.
Time will tell
People voted for Trump because they want to be safe. He projected a strong image through that shooting, attacking the capitol(terrible as it was), and his constant tweets attacking minorities. His people only see a strong leader. Democrats objectively stated the ugly truths, and though they also offered to fix it, some only saw that they were talking about the problems of their own administration. Now people who(somehow) still support Trump unconditionally are the same people content to turn a blind eye when their ‘great leader’ turns out not to be as amazing as they were told. I’d feel bad if they didn’t vote for this.
I have a felon running my country! I have a no elected person making decisions for my country he is there because he is a millionaire. I have Senate leaders that be never answer their phones. My messages asking for a callback go into sone abysmal black hole never to see the light of day. We are playing the tarriff tax game like a derranged middle school teacher. Dont make me call your mother which means which translates to don’t make me raise your tariffs. Oops just kidding. Pretty soon nothing is taken seriously. I live in a first world country. I did not vote for this president but I respect the will of the people. I don’t think anyone expected the petulant, revenge seeking, megalomaniac that we have in office now. Say what you will about our last president but there was respect and decorum. And let’s not talk about the sidekick. I sis not vote for him and I am so uncomfortable with all the major decisions he is making. I feel helpless and powerless. I am scared for today and our future
It’s a sad, sad day for América that a convicted felon, convicted sexual abuser, insurrectionist, lying bully is the president, and soon to become dictator. And his supporters don’t care! They throw out trivial accusations against Democrats while they burn down the country by empowering billionaires. Their accusations about Hunter Biden’s laptop (although he has never been in government!) is just one example. Meanwhile, their own corruption, lying and incompetence is mind blowing. Trump has gaslighted his supporters very well.