Support for Trump's Policies Exceeds Trump's Support

Most Americans who dislike President-elect Donald J. Trump share his assessment of the country's problems and support some of his controversial reform policies, according to a new poll from The New York Times and Ipsos.

A little more than half of the country expresses a certain desire to see Mr. Trump is following through on his dire threat to crack down on illegal immigration: to deport everyone living in the United States without permission.

The poll, which polled 2,128 adults from Jan. 2 to Jan. 10, found that 55 percent of Americans strongly or somewhat support mass deportations.

Americans are equally divided about whether Mr. However, 46 percent said that trade with foreign countries should be subject to additional tariffs.

And most sympathize with efforts to strictly limit how doctors can treat children with gender issues – an issue Mr. 71 percent said no one under the age of 18 should be prescribed anti-puberty drugs or hormones. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the matter later this year.

The survey tells the story of a country turning inward, where people are more aligned with Mr.

For a politically divisive figure — Americans view him more negatively than any other incoming president in the past 70 years — the level of support for his views is surprising. Most Americans say the United States has ignored serious problems at home while embroiling itself in costly conflicts abroad, a survey found. Most believe that the government sends too much money to Ukraine. And many express little tolerance for immigrants in general.

“Something has to happen with the immigration,” said Jose Hernandez, 48, of Atlanta, who works with a hotel chain on new projects. “I am also an immigrant, from Mexico, but I waited 25 years. I came to this country legally.” He added, “There is no control in the system.”

Mr. Hernandez said he voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joseph R. Biden in 2020, and he sees himself as aligned with Democrats on social justice. But in 2024, he supported Mr. Trump as more of an “anti-Kamala” vote than anything else, he explained.

Although Mr. Hernandez said he does not want to see the deportation of many people, describing the situation at the border as “unsustainable.”

“We are establishing rules and guidelines. If you don't follow those rules, it means that,” he said.

Mr. Trump has vowed to carry out the largest deportation campaign in American history. And the community has him, to a point.

A majority of Americans – 87 percent – support deporting undocumented immigrants with criminal records, Mr. Trump said it would be one of his first business orders.

Nearly two-thirds of all Americans — including 54 percent of Hispanics and 44 percent of Democrats — supported deporting illegal immigrants during the last four years of the Biden administration, after he rolled back many of Mr. term. During that time, legal and illegal immigration rose to the highest levels in US history.

A small majority – 56 percent – said they believe immigrants strengthen the country. About 41 percent agreed with the statement that “immigrants today are a burden on our country.” That sentiment has declined over the past decade, according to several public polls, but now appears to be on the rise.

The number of undocumented people was 11 million people by 2022, according to the latest government statistics. Anthropologists agree that the current number is higher, between 13 and 14 million.

The American people are also eager to see their country out of the world's affairs. Asked whether it is better for the United States to work on world affairs or, instead, to focus less on overseas problems and more on domestic issues, 60 percent of Americans prefer less foreign engagement, according to the poll.

As recently as 2019, a minority of Americans expressed a desire to withdraw from international affairs, splitting nearly 50-50 on the question, according to the Pew Research Center.

The Ipsos survey, conducted for The New York Times, aims to gauge support for Mr. Trump said he would use them if elected. It also gauged public sentiment on a number of issues that have been the subject of partisan disagreement, from the scope of presidential power to programs designed to promote diversity.

The country is still very divided about Mr. Trump, polls found, despite his claims that he had won “a powerful and unprecedented mandate.” About the same share of people told the Times they were worried or pessimistic about the next four years as they were happy or optimistic. His approval ratings, according to a poll from the FiveThirtyEight website, have dipped below 50 percent recently. That's the same as his share of the popular vote in 2024.

The American people are not willing to give Mr. Trump carte blanche. For example, while many people expect him to use the government to investigate and prosecute his political opponents, most Americans do not want him to do it. That includes most Republicans.

Overall, 73 percent of Americans say they disapprove of the idea that Mr.

Mr. Trump would also lack much support to end the constitutional guarantee of citizenship to anyone born on American soil, the study found.

The poll also revealed that Americans respect their government – far less than during Watergate. Many people of all races, genders and ethnicities say the political system is broken and that the economy is working against them – a desperation that follows some of Mr.

There is a widespread belief, across parties, that Washington is corrupt, with two-thirds of Democrats and 80 percent of Republicans saying the government is self-serving and has more power than ordinary people. Two-thirds of Americans say the economic system unfairly favors the rich.

In the interviews, respondents to the polls reflected the dire state of the country.

“A lot of elected officials are working in their jurisdictions,” said Tarra Williams, 49, a compliance manager in Mooresville, NC, who said she voted for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Mrs. Williams said she does not trust Republicans, Democrats and the federal government. “The whole country is on cognitive dissonance autopilot,” he said. “We need a complete restart of government.”

For some Democrats, there was some misunderstanding about the second inauguration of Mr.

“I don't think Trump's presidency is a good or bad thing,” said Booker Preston, 50, a mechanic in Fort Worth, Texas, who said he voted for Ms. Harris. Perhaps, he suggested that the government might use some of the money it sends abroad to deal with problems at home.

“I feel like we're spending a lot of money overseas that we may not be able to get back – and we're not getting enough returns to get it back,” he said. “We can use those billions of dollars here to help people here.”

The promise of Mr. Trump's commitment to doing a better job of controlling inflation and the economy appealed to many voters. Many Americans expect that Mr. Trump will help rather than hurt the economy. Even among Democrats, about one-third say it would help the economy or, at least, not make a big difference.

Americans were wondering if Mr. Will Trump be able to fulfill those economic promises. Most Republicans expect that prices will decrease during Mr. most Democrats expect he won't.

But the American people expect him to follow through on what he said he would do. Almost unanimously, across all parties, the majority said they thought he would likely deport more people and that he would raise taxes in China and Mexico.

A narrow majority of Americans expect Mr. Trump will plunge the country into several wars. Republicans are almost twice as likely to expect this as Democrats.

Like it or not, Mr. Trump didn't start big wars, said Tim Malsbary, 56, a nurse in Cincinnati, who said he voted for Mr. Trump in this election, but he considered himself a Democrat.

“The Democratic Party made me bitter,” he added.

Although the issue of gay and transgender rights ranks very low on most Americans' list of priorities — only 4 percent cite it as one of their most important issues — Republicans are focused on it. And Mr. Trump, who aired eye-catching ads attacking Ms. Harris as a stalwart on the issue, seems to be more in tune with public sentiment.

The survey found, for example, that only 18 percent of Americans believe that transgender athletes — those who were male at birth — should be allowed to compete in women's sports. About 80 percent said it shouldn't.

On public issues, Republicans have also pursued efforts to increase racial diversity. When it comes to such efforts in schools and public institutions, Americans are evenly split, with 48 percent saying they want to end the programs and 47 percent wanting to keep them.

About 22 percent of black Americans and 40 percent of Hispanic Americans support ending these programs.

However, as many Americans find Mr. Trump, others are withholding judgment.

Ali Romero, 43, of Moab, Utah, said he found it difficult to support some of Mr. But he did not see Ms. Harris as a compelling alternative, although he leans toward the Democratic Alliance.

“So instead of voting for somebody and not feeling good about it,” she said, “I voted for nobody and I feel good about it.”

At the very least, a Trump presidency will be different, he said. “It's not the status quo.”

Christine Zhang put your hand in.

How the Survey Was Conducted

Here are the key things to know about this survey from The New York Times and Ipsos:

• The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, a probability-based web panel managed by Ipsos. You can see the exact questions that were asked and the order in which they were asked here.

• The sample was drawn from KnowledgePanel, which is recruited using address-based sampling to ensure representativeness of the entire United States. Americans were then selected for this study from that panel.

• The margin of sampling error among all Americans is about plus or minus 2.6 percentage points. In theory, this means that the results should reflect the opinions of the majority of the population most of the time, although many other challenges create additional sources of error.

You can see the full results and detailed methodology here. You can view the opposite tabs here.