Partisan divides on Trump’s job performance and on individual issues remain very large
- 42% say U.S. is headed in the right direction, 58% say it is on the wrong track
- Public reports being concerned about federal deficit, yet majorities favor tax cuts and oppose most spending cuts
- Majorities favor executive order supporting two-sexes, oppose acquiring Greenland, say landing on Mars should not be a priority
Please note: Complete Poll results and methodology information can be found online at law.marquette.edu/poll
MILWAUKEE – A new Marquette Law School Poll national survey finds wide variation in approval of President Donald Trump’s handling of a variety of issues. Overall, 46% approve of the job he is doing as president and 54% disapprove. This is unchanged from the Marquette national poll in March.
Across seven specific issues, approval of the president’s job performance ranges from a high of 56% on border security to a low of 34% on inflation and the cost of living. Net approval—the percent approving minus the percent disapproving—ranges from +12 percentage points to -32 percentage points.
Overall, approval and approval on specific issues are shown in Table 1. After border security, the second highest approval is for Trump’s handling of immigration, with a net of 0, resulting from a 50%-50% split. His overall approval is -8, followed, with lower net negative results, by opinion on foreign policy, the economy, and handling of the Russia-Ukraine war. Net approval of Trump’s handling of tariffs is -26, followed by inflation and cost of living at -32.
Table 1: Trump job approval across issues
Among adults
| Approval | |||
| Issue | Net | Approve | Disapprove |
| Border security | 12 | 56 | 44 |
| Immigration | 0 | 50 | 50 |
| Overall | -8 | 46 | 54 |
| Foreign policy | -14 | 43 | 57 |
| The economy | -16 | 42 | 58 |
| Russia-Ukraine war | -20 | 40 | 60 |
| Tariffs | -26 | 37 | 63 |
| Inflation/cost of living | -32 | 34 | 66 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | |||
| Question: Overall, how much do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president? | |||
| Question: Overall, how much do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling each of the following issues? | |||
Turning to a different metric: Inflation and cost of living is rated the most important issue by 36%, followed by threats to democracy at 19% and the economy at 13%. Medicare and Social Security is rated the fourth most important issue at 10%, followed by immigration at 9%. The federal budget deficit is seen as most important by 4%, health care by 3%, abortion policy by 2%, and foreign policy by 2%. The full set of issue ratings is shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Most important issue
Among adults
| Issue | |
| Percent most important | |
| Inflation and the cost of living | 36 |
| Threats to democracy | 19 |
| The economy | 13 |
| Medicare & Social Security | 10 |
| Immigration and border security | 9 |
| The size of the federal deficit | 4 |
| Health care | 3 |
| Don’t know | 3 |
| Abortion policy | 2 |
| Foreign policy | 2 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | |
| Question: Which one of the following issues matters MOST to you right now? | |
The survey was conducted May 5-15, 2025, interviewing 1,004 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of +/-3.6 percentage points.
Approval on specific issues, by partisanship
The strength of Trump’s appeal to his base is clear, with more than two-thirds of those who identify as Republicans approving of his handling of each issue. Yet even among Republicans, there is variation across issues. His handling of border security has the highest net approval, and he receives the lowest net approval for his work on inflation and cost of living.
A majority of independents disapprove of Trump’s handling of each issue, with border security as the best net approval and inflation the worst.
Democrats are extremely negative across almost all issues, although it is notable that almost a quarter of Democrats approve of Trump’s handling of the border.
Approval across issues by party identification is shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Trump approval overall and on specific issues, by party identification
Among adults
| Approval | |||||||||
| Issue | Rep Net | Rep Approve | Rep Disapprove | Ind Net | Ind Approve | Ind Disapprove | Dem Net | Dem Approve | Dem Disapprove |
| Border security | 84 | 92 | 8 | -6 | 47 | 53 | -54 | 23 | 77 |
| Immigration | 80 | 90 | 10 | -24 | 38 | 62 | -74 | 13 | 87 |
| Overall | 74 | 87 | 13 | -38 | 31 | 69 | -84 | 8 | 92 |
| Foreign policy | 66 | 83 | 17 | -42 | 29 | 71 | -84 | 8 | 92 |
| The economy | 60 | 80 | 20 | -40 | 30 | 70 | -84 | 8 | 92 |
| Russia-Ukraine war | 50 | 75 | 25 | -50 | 25 | 75 | -82 | 9 | 91 |
| Tariffs | 42 | 71 | 29 | -48 | 26 | 74 | -90 | 5 | 95 |
| Inflation/cost of living | 36 | 68 | 32 | -54 | 23 | 77 | -92 | 4 | 96 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | |||||||||
| Question: Overall, how much do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president? | |||||||||
| Question: Overall, how much do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling each of the following issues? | |||||||||
In addition to being judged on individual issues, presidents are also looked at as trustworthy or not. To assess this, the poll asked:
“Regardless of specific policies, how much do you trust Donald Trump to make the right decisions for the country?”
In response, 17% say they completely trust Trump, 28% mostly trust him, 15% mostly do not trust him, and 40% completely do not trust him. There are sharp differences across parties. A majority of Republicans completely or mostly trust the president, while majorities of independents and Democrats mostly or completely do not trust him. While Trump holds majority approval among Republicans across all issues (Table 3), a slight majority (51%) say they mostly trust him, while 36% completely trust him. These results are shown in Table 4.
Table 4: Trust Trump, by party identification
Among adults
| Party ID | Trust Trump | |||
| Completely trust | Mostly trust | Mostly do not trust | Completely do not trust | |
| Among all adults | 17 | 28 | 15 | 40 |
| Republican | 36 | 51 | 10 | 3 |
| Independent | 9 | 20 | 27 | 44 |
| Democrat | 2 | 6 | 15 | 77 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | ||||
| Question: Regardless of specific policies, how much do you trust Donald Trump to make the right decisions for the country? | ||||
Inflation and cost of living is the most important issue for both Republicans and independents—by large margins. Both also rate the economy as second most important. For Democrats, the top issue is threats to democracy, with inflation second. Democrats ranked Medicare and Social Security third in importance.
While immigration has been a major focus for Trump, only 14% of Republicans name it as their top issue, with 8% of independents and 4% of Democrats ranking it most important. Poll director Charles Franklin said, “The much higher rating of inflation and cost of living across all party groups compared to immigration is indicative of the risk Trump runs, despite his relatively high ratings on the border and immigration, in taking actions that threaten to increase inflation.”
The full ratings of most important issues by party are shown in Table 5.
Table 5: Most important issue, by party identification
Among adults
| Issue | |||
| Rep most important | Ind most important | Dem most important | |
| Inflation and the cost of living | 42 | 35 | 30 |
| Threats to democracy | 4 | 11 | 37 |
| The economy | 16 | 15 | 9 |
| Medicare & Social Security | 7 | 14 | 12 |
| Immigration and border security | 14 | 8 | 4 |
| The size of the federal deficit | 8 | 2 | 1 |
| Health care | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| Don’t know | 2 | 8 | 2 |
| Abortion policy | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Foreign policy | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | |||
| Question: Which one of the following issues matters MOST to you right now? | |||
Tariffs, deportations and other issues
A majority of respondents, 58%, say tariffs hurt the U.S. economy, while 32% say they help the economy and 10% think they have no effect. The percentage saying tariffs hurt the economy is unchanged from March, while the share saying they help the economy is up 4 percentage points from March and the number of those saying “no effect” has declined 4 percentage points.
While opinion among Democrats has barely changed since March, Republicans have become more positive about the effect of tariffs, and independents have become more negative. Table 6 shows the views of tariffs by party, comparing March and May.
Table 6: Effect of tariffs on the economy, by party identification
Among adults
| Poll dates | Effect of tariffs | ||
| Helps U.S. economy | Hurts U.S. economy | Doesn’t make much difference | |
| Republican | |||
| 5/5-15/25 | 63 | 24 | 13 |
| 3/17-27/25 | 52 | 27 | 21 |
| Independent | |||
| 5/5-15/25 | 14 | 70 | 16 |
| 3/17-27/25 | 18 | 58 | 24 |
| Democrat | |||
| 5/5-15/25 | 6 | 90 | 4 |
| 3/17-27/25 | 7 | 89 | 4 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, latest: May 5-15, 2025 | |||
| Question: In general, do you think imposing tariffs or fees on products imported from other countries helps the U.S. economy, hurts the economy, or doesn’t make much of a difference either way? | |||
In the wake of the administration’s imposition of higher tariffs, 61% favor a proposal that Congress would have to vote to approve all tariffs, and 39% oppose such a law. Among Republicans, 44% favor such a law, while 56% of independents and 81% of Democrats are in favor.
Sixty-one percent believe Trump’s policies will increase inflation, 28% say they will decrease inflation, and 10% don’t think they will have any effect.
Republicans are considerably more likely to say Trump’s policies will decrease inflation than are independents or Democrats. However, since December, Republicans have become steadily less optimistic about inflation’s going down due to Trump’s policies. In December, 76% of Republicans said Trump’s policies would decease inflation, while in May only 55% of Republicans said this. Independents are increasingly skeptical that inflation will go down, while Democrats have remained very doubtful that Trump will reduce inflation. These trends are shown in Table 7.
Table 7: Effect of Trump policies on inflation, by party identification
Among adults
| Poll dates | Effect of policies on inflation | ||
| Decrease inflation | Increase inflation | Have no effect on inflation | |
| Republican | |||
| 5/5-15/25 | 55 | 31 | 14 |
| 3/17-27/25 | 62 | 23 | 15 |
| 1/27-2/6/25 | 70 | 16 | 13 |
| 12/2-11/24 | 76 | 11 | 14 |
| Independent | |||
| 5/5-15/25 | 18 | 68 | 14 |
| 3/17-27/25 | 16 | 60 | 24 |
| 1/27-2/6/25 | 26 | 47 | 26 |
| 12/2-11/24 | 28 | 43 | 28 |
| Democrat | |||
| 5/5-15/25 | 5 | 91 | 4 |
| 3/17-27/25 | 4 | 92 | 4 |
| 1/27-2/6/25 | 5 | 85 | 10 |
| 12/2-11/24 | 8 | 82 | 10 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, latest: May 5-15, 2025 | |||
| Question: Do you think Trump’s policy proposals will decrease inflation, increase inflation, or have no effect on inflation? | |||
Looking ahead, 63% say inflation and cost of living will increase over the next 12 months, 20% say they will decrease, and 17% think they will stay about the same. Republicans are about evenly divided in their expectation of inflation’s increasing or decreasing, while three-quarters of independents and 87% of Democrats say inflation will increase in the next year. This is shown in Table 8.
Table 8: Inflation expectation over next 12 months, by party identification
Among adults
| Party ID | Inflation expectation | ||
| Increase | Decrease | Stay about the same | |
| Among all adults | 63 | 20 | 17 |
| Republican | 35 | 37 | 28 |
| Independent | 75 | 12 | 13 |
| Democrat | 87 | 5 | 8 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | |||
| Question: Over the next 12 months do you think inflation and the cost of living will increase, decrease or stay about the same? | |||
Immigration views, awareness
According to the Customs and Border Protection agency, encounters at the southwestern border declined from 96,037 in December to 12,035 in April. The public is generally aware that the number of immigrants crossing the southern border has declined, with 68% saying crossings are down a little or a lot, 27% saying crossings are about the same, and 5% saying crossings are up a little or a lot. More Republicans (84%) than Democrats (61%) say crossings are down, while independents, at 45%, are least aware of the decline.
There has been little change in views of deporting “immigrants who are living in the United States illegally,” which, in a half sample of respondents, is favored by 66% and opposed by 34%. From February 2024 through May 2025, in eight of nine national Marquette Law Poll surveys, 60% or more have favored such deportations, with one poll finding support at 55%.
The deportation question is also asked, of the other half of respondents, with the additional phrase “even if they have lived here for a number of years, have jobs and no criminal record?” Given this wording, support for deportations is materially lower: 42% favor and 58% oppose deportation of long-time residents without criminal records. Opinion has remained stable on this question as well, with 38% to 44% favoring deportations over seven polls from May 2024 through May 2025, while 56% to 62% have been opposed.
Trump has raised the possibility of sending U.S. citizens convicted of certain crimes to a prison in El Salvador rather than keeping them in a U.S. prison. This proposal is favored by 40% of respondents and opposed by 60%. Close to two-thirds of Republicans favor such incarceration of U.S. citizens in foreign prisons, while majorities of independents and Democrats are opposed, as shown in Table 9.
Table 9: Incarcerate U.S. citizens in El Salvador, by party identification
Among adults
| Party ID | Incarcerate citizens in El Salvidor | |
| Favor | Oppose | |
| Among all adults | 40 | 60 |
| Republican | 64 | 36 |
| Independent | 41 | 59 |
| Democrat | 13 | 87 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | ||
| Question: President Trump has said he will consider sending U.S. citizens convicted of certain crimes to prison in El Salvador instead of serving their sentences in U.S. prisons. How much do you favor or oppose this idea? | ||
The public is about evenly divided on ending diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies in the federal government, with 48% in favor and 52% opposed. Republicans strongly support ending these policies, 82%, while 43% of independents and 15% of Democrats also favor ending DEI programs. A small majority of white adults favor ending DEI programs, while small-to-substantial majorities of non-white groups are opposed, as shown in Table 10.
Table 10: Ending DEI in the federal government, by race and ethnicity
Among adults
| Race and ethnicity | End DEI | |
| Favor | Oppose | |
| Among all adults | 48 | 52 |
| White | 54 | 46 |
| Black | 21 | 79 |
| Hispanic | 42 | 58 |
| Other/Multiple | 51 | 49 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | ||
| Question: Do you favor or oppose ending diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs in the federal government? | ||
Sixty-three percent favor Trump’s executive order declaring that it is the policy of the United States “to recognize two sexes, male and female,” with 37% opposed to this. These percentages are the same as when the question was asked in January. On this issue, a majority of independents, as well as Republicans, favor the executive order, as do a quarter of Democrats, as shown in Table 11.
Table 11: Executive order declaring two sexes, by party identification
Among adults
| Party ID | Executive order declaring two sexes | |
| Favor | Oppose | |
| Among all adults | 63 | 37 |
| Republican | 96 | 4 |
| Independent | 68 | 32 |
| Democrat | 27 | 73 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | ||
| Question: Do you favor or oppose President Trump’s executive order requiring federal agencies to recognize biological sex as male or female only, eliminate references to gender identity in policies, and require federal documents, such as passports, to reflect biological sex, not gender identity? | ||
Seventy-three percent oppose the United States taking control of Greenland, while 27% are in favor. Among Republicans, 49% are in favor, with 22% of independents and 6% of Democrats who favor this.
The federal deficit, taxes, and spending cuts
When asked what they see as the issue that matters most to them, only 4% chose the size of the federal deficit from among nine issues, as shown above in Table 2. However, when asked how important it is for Congress and the president to reduce the deficit, 53% say it is very important, 36% say somewhat important, 9% not very important, and 2% not at all important. This gap between the 4% who say the size of the deficit is the most important issue and the 53% who say reducing the deficit is very important raises questions about how much the public cares about the deficit issue, especially when this would conflict with other things the public wants. As Congress debates the reconciliation bill and the upcoming budget, this conflict will likely become apparent.
Asked about the ultimate results in the budget process, 48% say Congress and Trump will end up reducing the federal deficit, and 52% say they will increase the deficit. Seventy-eight percent of Republicans say the deficit will be reduced, while 44% of independents and 18% of Democrats think this will happen.
Taxes are one aspect of the budget deficit, with tax increases potentially reducing the deficit and tax cuts possibly increasing the deficit. In the current poll, majorities favor tax increases on those earning over $600,000 a year and on corporations, but majorities also favor eliminating federal taxes on Social Security payments and on income from tips. And a majority favor extending the 2017 tax cuts. This range of results is shown in Table 12.
Table 12: Changes in taxes
Among adults
| Favor or oppose | |||
| Tax policy | Net | Favor | Oppose |
| Eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits | 70 | 85 | 15 |
| Increase taxes on income over $600,000 | 66 | 83 | 17 |
| Eliminate taxes on tips | 56 | 78 | 22 |
| Increase taxes on corporations | 54 | 77 | 23 |
| Make 2017 tax cuts permanent | 38 | 69 | 31 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | |||
| Question: How much do you favor or oppose the following changes to tax policy? | |||
On federal spending, a majority are willing to cut the number of federal employees, as well as NASA and the space program. A majority, by a smaller margin, are not willing to cut defense spending, while large majorities oppose cuts to grants for medical research, to Medicaid, to Social Security, or to Medicare. The results for each program are shown in Table 13.
Table 13: Willing to cut spending on programs
Among adults
| Spending area | Willing to cut or not | |
| Willing to cut | Not willing to cut | |
| The number of federal employees | 65 | 35 |
| NASA and the space program | 63 | 37 |
| Defense spending | 46 | 54 |
| Grants for medical research | 28 | 71 |
| Medicaid | 17 | 83 |
| Social Security | 10 | 90 |
| Medicare | 8 | 92 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | ||
| Question: Would you be willing or not willing to cut spending on the following areas in order to reduce the federal budget deficit? | ||
The public does not view an effort to land people on the moon and on Mars as an important priority. This is rated a top priority by 5%, while 39% say it is important but not a top priority and 56% say it should not be a priority.
Attention to topics in the news
In this most recent bimonthly poll, the public reported paying the most attention to news about tariffs, with 81% saying they read or heard a lot about this topic. Reductions in the number of federal employees got the second most attention, with 67% hearing a lot, closely followed by news about a man erroneously deported to El Salvador, 63%. Changes in the stock market and cancellation of federal grants to universities received slightly less attention, as shown in Table 14.
Table 14: Attention to topics in the news
Among adults
| Topic | Read or heard about | ||
| A lot | A little | Nothing at all | |
| Tariffs the U.S. is imposing on imports from foreign countries | 81 | 16 | 3 |
| Reductions in the number of federal employees | 67 | 26 | 7 |
| A man who was erroneously deported to El Salvador | 63 | 27 | 10 |
| Changes in the stock market | 58 | 32 | 10 |
| Cancellation of federal grants to universities | 53 | 35 | 12 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | |||
| Question: Here are some recent topics in the news. How much have you heard or read about each of these? | |||
Views of the parties
Approval of the way Republicans in Congress are handing their job stands at 43%, with disapproval at 57%. This is a slight decline from March when 45% approved and 55% disapproved.
Approval of how Democrats in Congress are doing their job is substantially lower at 29%, with disapproval at 71%. These are unchanged from March.
Republican approval of Republicans in Congress is 81%, while approval among Democrats of the way congressional Democrats are handling their job is much lower, 49%. Approval of the parties is shown in Table 15.
Table 15: Approval of congressional parties, by party identification
Among adults
| Party ID | Approval | |
| Approve | Disapprove | |
| Approval of Republicans in Congress | ||
| Republican | 81 | 19 |
| Independent | 27 | 73 |
| Democrat | 9 | 91 |
| Approval of Democrats in Congress | ||
| Republican | 7 | 93 |
| Independent | 33 | 67 |
| Democrat | 49 | 51 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | ||
| Question: Overall, how much do you approve or disapprove of the way Republicans in Congress are handling their job? | ||
| Question: Overall, how much do you approve or disapprove of the way Democrats in Congress are handling their job? | ||
Favorability ratings
Opinion of the late Pope Francis is 55% favorable and 21% unfavorable, with 24% who haven’t heard enough to have an opinion. Half or more of each religious group have a favorable opinion of Pope Francis, with the exception of born-again Protestants. Catholics have the highest favorable opinion of the late Pope, with 73% favorable. The full results are shown in Table 16.
Table 16: Favorability to Pope Francis, by religious group
Among adults
| Religious group | Favorability | ||
| Favorable | Unfavorable | Haven’t heard enough | |
| Born-again Protestant | 38 | 36 | 26 |
| Mainline Protestant | 50 | 18 | 32 |
| Roman Catholic | 73 | 17 | 10 |
| No religion | 57 | 14 | 29 |
| Other religion | 65 | 13 | 21 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, May 5-15, 2025 | |||
| Question: Do you have a favorable or an unfavorable opinion of the late Pope Francis, or haven’t you heard enough yet to have an opinion? | |||
Favorability to Trump has varied only slightly since his return to office in January. In May, 43% have a favorable opinion and 56% have an unfavorable opinion.
Vice President JD Vance’s favorability rating has remained stable in March and May, with a small increase in unfavorable views since January. In May 38% view him favorably and 50% unfavorably.
Opinion of Elon Musk has hardly changed since March, with 38% favorable and 59% unfavorable.
These results are shown in Table 17.
Table 17: Favorability to Trump, Vance, Musk
Among adults
| Poll dates | Favorability | |||
| Net | Favorable | Unfavorable | Haven’t heard enough | |
| Donald Trump | ||||
| 5/5-15/25 | -13 | 43 | 56 | 1 |
| 3/17-27/25 | -7 | 46 | 53 | 1 |
| 1/27-2/6/25 | -10 | 44 | 54 | 2 |
| JD Vance | ||||
| 5/5-15/25 | -12 | 38 | 50 | 12 |
| 3/17-27/25 | -13 | 37 | 50 | 12 |
| 1/27-2/6/25 | -5 | 39 | 44 | 17 |
| Elon Musk | ||||
| 5/5-15/25 | -21 | 38 | 59 | 3 |
| 3/17-27/25 | -22 | 38 | 60 | 2 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, latest: May 5-15, 2025 | ||||
| Question: Do you have a favorable or an unfavorable opinion of the following people or haven’t you heard enough yet to have an opinion? | ||||
Members of the Cabinet remain relatively little known to the public, and opinion of each one included in the survey has become slightly more net negative since December, after they were chosen by Trump in the weeks following the election. The comparisons are shown in Table 18.
Table 18: Favorability to member of the Cabinet
Among adults
| Poll dates | Favorability | |||
| Net | Favorable | Unfavorable | Haven’t heard enough | |
| Secretary of State Marco Rubio | ||||
| 5/5-15/25 | -4 | 34 | 38 | 28 |
| 1/27-2/6/25 | 12 | 43 | 31 | 26 |
| 12/2-11/24 | 3 | 39 | 36 | 25 |
| Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr | ||||
| 5/5-15/25 | -10 | 38 | 48 | 14 |
| 1/27-2/6/25 | -7 | 39 | 46 | 14 |
| 12/2-11/24 | 0 | 44 | 44 | 11 |
| Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth | ||||
| 5/5-15/25 | -18 | 26 | 44 | 30 |
| 1/27-2/6/25 | -9 | 28 | 37 | 35 |
| 12/2-11/24 | -10 | 27 | 37 | 37 |
| Attorney General Pam Bondi | ||||
| 5/5-15/25 | -6 | 28 | 34 | 38 |
| 1/27-2/6/25 | 1 | 29 | 28 | 43 |
| 12/2-11/24 | -3 | 28 | 31 | 41 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national survey, latest: May 5-15, 2025 | ||||
| Question: Do you have a favorable or an unfavorable opinion of the following people or haven’t you heard enough yet to have an opinion? | ||||
Direction of the country
The percentage saying the country is headed in the right direction remains unchanged since March at 42%, with 58% who say it is off on the wrong track. In October, only 20% said the country was headed in the right direction. The recent trend is shown in Table 19.
Table 19: Direction of the country
Among adults
| Poll dates | Direction of country | |
| Right direction | Wrong track | |
| 5/5-15/25 | 42 | 58 |
| 3/17-27/25 | 42 | 58 |
| 1/27-2/6/25 | 38 | 62 |
| 12/2-11/24 | 25 | 75 |
| 10/1-10/24 | 20 | 80 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys, latest: May 5-15, 2025 | ||
| Question: Do you feel things in this country are generally going in the right direction, or do you feel things have gotten off on the wrong track? | ||
Economic conditions
In May, 32% say the economy is excellent or good, a small increase from March, with 47% who say it is not so good and 22% who say it is poor. The share of adults saying the economy is poor has declined in recent polling relative to the survey periods before the 2024 election. The full trend is shown in Table 20.
Table 20: Views of the national economy
Among adults
| Poll dates | National economy | ||
| Excellent/Good | Not so good | Poor | |
| 5/5-15/25 | 32 | 47 | 22 |
| 3/17-27/25 | 26 | 53 | 20 |
| 1/27-2/6/25 | 27 | 58 | 15 |
| 12/2-11/24 | 29 | 50 | 21 |
| 10/1-10/24 | 24 | 45 | 31 |
| 7/24-8/1/24 | 30 | 35 | 35 |
| 5/6-15/24 | 29 | 40 | 31 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys, latest: May 5-15, 2025 | |||
| Question: How would you describe the state of the nation’s economy these days? | |||
Family finances
Looking to the financial situation within the home, the percentage saying they are struggling has declined from 21% in May 2024 to 17% now, with those just getting by rising from 43% to 48%, and those living comfortably barely changed from 36% to 35%. The full results are shown in Table 21.
Table 21: Family financial situation
Among adults
| Poll dates | Family financial situation | ||
| Living comfortably | Just getting by | Struggling | |
| 5/5-15/25 | 35 | 48 | 17 |
| 3/17-27/25 | 38 | 47 | 15 |
| 1/27-2/6/25 | 36 | 48 | 17 |
| 12/2-11/24 | 35 | 44 | 20 |
| 10/1-10/24 | 34 | 43 | 23 |
| 7/24-8/1/24 | 36 | 41 | 23 |
| 5/6-15/24 | 36 | 43 | 21 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, national surveys, latest: May 5-15, 2025 | |||
| Question: Thinking about your family’s financial situation, would you say you are living comfortably, just getting by, or struggling to make ends meet? | |||
About the Marquette Law School Poll
The survey was conducted May 5-15, 2025, interviewing 1,004 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of +/-3.6 percentage points.
Interviews were conducted using the SSRS Opinion Panel, a national probability sample with interviews conducted online. Certain other data from this survey (focusing on those about public views of the Supreme Court) are held for release on May 22. The detailed methodology statement, survey instrument, topline results, and crosstabs for this release are available on the Marquette Law Poll website.