Voters begin 2025 agrios in the state of the economy and the management of President Donald Trump so far, even when his election to a second mandate caused an increase in positive feelings on the direction of the nation, according to a new national NBC news survey.
Fed by retirement and unified Republicans, who are standing with Trump and the expansive agenda that he and the leaders of the congress are pressing in Washington, the most registered voters see the United States as the right direction that at any time since the beginning of 2004, although a majority still says that the country is on the wrong way. Trump’s approval index also equals its best brand as president (47%), although again, a majority (51%) disapproves of their performance.
Meanwhile, partly driven by a pessimistic change among the Democrats from the Trump’s choice, only 18% of voters qualify the economy as “excellent” or “good”, not as low as the poorest economic brands during the Biden administration, according to CNBC surveys of 2022, but inside a bridge of the ports, and as low as they have been in the update of the NBC news since 2014. Voting the voters of the voters of the voters of Trump’s voters. (54% disapprove, 44% approve) and how they handle inflation and cost of living (55% disapprove, 42% approve).
It is a new development for Trump, who never had the majority against its management of the economy in a national NBC news survey. Now, it is facing markets and nervous businesses in the midst of its first movements to put rates to neighbors and other allies. Trump also faces voters questions about whether he is sufficiently focused on his main cost of costs, since he pursues other projects such as remodeling the federal bureaucracy.
In general, the survey reflects a America that remains deeply divided in the months after Trump’s victory in 2024, as it was in the previous months.
Voters disapprove of little Trump’s general labor performance, but the margin is closer than at almost any time during his first term. His personal qualifications and the proportion of Republicans who identify as part of the Maga Movement have grown, which reflects the unity within his party, giving great freedom in a Washington controlled by the Republican Party.
In another change of Trump’s first mandate in the White House, the public has emerged in its immigration policies focused on deportation, although voters distrust their management of other issues, including foreign policy.
Voters like the general idea of the Government’s efficiency department, Trump’s effort blessed to reduce government jobs and spending. But so far they house reservations about their rapid fire execution, as well as on the Trump billionaire advisor, Elon Musk, Doge’s de facto chief.
And voters are uniformly divided on which game would like to see the mid -2026 elections win, even when the Democratic Party faces popularity and frantic divisions on how to respond to Trump. (The survey was conducted from March 7 to 11, before the Senate Democrats provided a handful of votes to help solve a government financing fight).
Read more of the NBC News survey
“While this survey shows a mixed result for Donald Trump, the Democrats are the ones in the desert at this time,” said Democratic Surveyor Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, who conducted this survey with Republican Surveyor Bill Mciturff of public opinion strategies. Horwitt described Trump’s back numbers among the independents “an intermittent red light in the survey.”
Mcinturff pointed out how Trump has fortified his base during the last year. The political history of next year, he said, will be whether the dissatisfaction of voters in the economy or other issues is responsible: “Or the strength of the Republican base and Trump has maintained a very competitive choice” in 2026, Mcinturff continued.
The extended Trump base and key problems
The Trump labor approval index (47%) and the favorable personal qualification (46%), together with the 44%who believe that the country is on the right path, are at maximum all time in NBC news surveys during their political career.
But they are also well below where previous presidents were during the “honeymoon period” of the new administrations, marking the polarization that Trump has defined. A little more to disapprove of Trump’s work performance (51%) and see it personally negatively (49%), and 54%sees the country as in the wrong way.
Underline the deep partisan division, Trump has the largest gap of any president in the last 80 years between his approval index among the members of his own party (90%) and his approval index of the opposite party (4%), according to an analysis of three decades of NBC news surveys and previous Gallup data.
Among the independents, 30% approve and 67% disapprove of Trump’s performance in office. A large gender gap still persists, with men who approve of Trump’s work of 55%-43%, while women are divided into the other sense, 40%-58%.
Vice President JD Vance is positively seen by 41% of voters and negatively 47%. This compares unfavorably with the even or positive evaluations of vice presidents at the beginning of the three previous administrations, according to NBC News surveys.
When it comes to problems, Trump is particularly well in immigration. Fifty -five percent of voters approve their border security and immigration management, while 43% disapprove. A similar participation, 56%, say they are bringing the “correct exchange rate” on the subject, while 25% say they are bringing the incorrect change and 18% say they are not bringing changes.
But that is the only one of the five issues proven in the survey: border and immigration security, foreign policy, economy, inflation and cost of living, and the war between Russia and Ukraine, which sees that most American voters approve how Trump is handling it.
Forty -five percent of voters approve their management of foreign policy and 53% disapproves, while 42% approves their management of the war between Russia and Ukraine, with a 55% disapproval.
Cost concerns dominate in the economy
The division between how voters see their immigration delivery and on economic matters occur after Trump identified them as the twin pillars of his 2024 victory, telling “Meet The Press” of NBC News in December: “I won on the border and won in edible.”
Only 1% describe the economy as “excellent” and 17% as “good”, and 39% call it “just” and 43% qualify “poor.” While it is more likely that Republicans have favorable views on the economy than others, the majorities in practically all demographic groups still see the economy in an unfavorable way.
Around a third (32%) of voters say that their family’s revenues are maintained even with the cost of living, but 60% say it is staying behind. Another 7% say that their family’s income is increasing faster than the cost of living.
When asked to evaluate his satisfaction about how much Trump is doing to fight inflation, a majority says they are not satisfied: 46% say that “they are not satisfied” and another 9% say that “they are not too satisfied”, while 20% is “something” satisfied and 23% are “very” satisfied.
The NBC News survey also described the feelings of voters about what exchange rate Trump is bringing as president, and 40% say they are providing the correct exchange rate to inflation and the cost of living, while 30% say they are bringing the incorrect change and 28% say they are not bringing changes.
In commerce and rates, 41% say they are bringing the correct change, 38% say the wrong change and 18% say they are not bringing changes.
In general, 46% said Trump is bringing the correct exchange rate, 30% said they are bringing the wrong exchange rate and that 21% said they are not bringing changes.
Doge and Musk are the first points of view
Voters are openly open to an effort to address inefficiencies in the government. But Musk concerns and how Dege is executing these cuts could be a public opinion responsibility for the administration.
Forty -six percent of voters say that establishing a government efficiency department was a good idea, while 40% say it was a bad idea and another 13% do not have an opinion. However, Dege itself looks unfavorably, with 41% with positive opinions about effort and 47% with negative opinions.
And musk is unpopular, with 51% with negative views of the technological tycoon and 39% see it positively. Half of voters (49%) say they have positive opinions about federal workers, while 21% sees them negatively and 29% feel neutral over them.
When asked to reflect widely in Doge, one third of the voters said that Musk and Dogs efforts to reduce federal government spending and size “should continue much more that should be done.” Meanwhile, 28% say: “It is necessary but it must reduce the speed to assess the impact.” And another 33% say “is reckless and should stop now before it becomes more damage.”
Democrats at a low point
Although Trump’s position is largely based on an overwhelming support of his own party, the Democratic Party is now in its lowest favorable qualification in the history of NBC news surveys. Only 27% of registered voters see the party positively. That includes only 59% of self -identified Democrats.
Meanwhile, 65% of Democrats say they want Democratic legislators to adhere to their positions, even if this means not being able to do things in Washington, while 32% want them to commit to Trump to obtain a consensus on legislation.
Even so, voters remain divided in who they want to control the Congress after the middle of the period next year: 48% return to the Democrats, while 47% retreated the Republicans.
How the different groups are driving Trump
As Trump dominates Washington, 53% of registered voters say that Republicans in Congress support the president too much, 6% say they are too critical and that 39% say they are dealing with Trump in the right way. In comparison, 50% say that Congress Democrats are too critical of Trump, 16% say they support him too much and 30% say they are treating it in the right way.
A plurality, 44%, believes that the Supreme Court is dealing with Trump in the right way, while 35% believe they have been too supportive and 14% believe they have been too critical.
An almost majority, 49%, says that CEO of large corporations support Trump too much, 29% believe they are treating it correctly and 12% believe they are being too critical.
And when it comes to the media, 46% of voters say they have been too critical of Trump, 25% say they have been too supportive, and 24% say they have been dealing with Trump in the right way.
The NBC News survey surveyed 1,000 registered voters from March 7 through a combination of telephone interviews and an online survey sent by text message. The margin of error is more or less 3.1 percentage points.