{"id":31084,"date":"2025-02-12T12:38:48","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T18:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=31084"},"modified":"2025-02-12T12:38:48","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T18:38:48","slug":"perceptions-of-donald-trump-a-month-into-his-second-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2025\/02\/perceptions-of-donald-trump-a-month-into-his-second-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Perceptions of Donald Trump a month into his second term"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The stability<\/a> of Donald Trump\u2019s 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?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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?<\/em> We randomize the order of the two questions, and respondents can write whatever they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each survey, we ask about 1,000 adults these questions. All but two or three percent share a response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summary of open-ended survey responses<\/th><\/tr>
in the Marquette Law School Poll, national adult sample<\/th><\/tr>
Attitude toward Donald Trump<\/th>survey dates<\/th><\/tr>
12\/2-11\/24<\/th>1\/27-2\/6\/25<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Can name likes and dislikes<\/td>51%<\/td>47%<\/td><\/tr>
Doesn’t dislike anything<\/td>12%<\/td>14%<\/td><\/tr>
Doesn’t like anything<\/td>35%<\/td>36%<\/td><\/tr>
no answer<\/td>2%<\/td>3%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump won in 2024 because he beat Harris by about 38 points<\/a> among voters holding mixed views of him. He enjoyed especially high support among those who hadn\u2019t voted at all in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of these people still approve of how Trump has begun his second term. However, Trump\u2019s approval rating has slipped with this group, relative to December 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s second term, 48% approve and 52% disapprove of how Trump is currently<\/em> handling his job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drop in approval is entirely due to lower views of Trump\u2019s current job performance among those with more ambivalent views of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But among those with mixed views of Trump, 77% gave him retrospective approval in December, falling to 67% approval in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Themes in the open-ended responses<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some voters express idiosyncratic combinations of views when given the opportunity. You\u2019ll find the occasional conservative whose only complaint about Trump is his support for Israel or the odd Harris voter who dislikes Trump\u2019s \u201cracist attitude\u201d but appreciates that he \u201cdoesn\u2019t drink or smoke dope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But most responses fall into familiar categories. Here are a few themes that stood out to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n