Among high-information elites, emotions about Donald Trump’s second administration are running high; Democrats are horrified, while hard-core MAGA Republicans could not be more excited. However, the general public is pretty calm about all the changes in Washington. Two postelection national polls show mildly positive reactions to Trump’s actions during the transition and mildly positive expectations of his administration, in but also beyond his core constituencies.
A CBS–You Gov poll conducted November 19–22 showed 59 percent of respondents approving of Trump’s handling of his transition. These initially satisfied customers included 22 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of independents, along with 95 percent of Republicans. Yes, 50 percent of Democrats (but only 19 percent of independents) said they were “scared” about what Trump might do as president, but 35 percent expressed mere “concern” and 15 percent were either “excited” or “optimistic.” Rank-and-file Republicans, for their part, weren’t all ready to celebrate Trump’s ascension to power: 41 percent were simply “optimistic” about his return to office.
Similarly, a more recent CNN poll conducted December 5–8 after quite a bit more discussion of Trump’s appointments and plans showed 55 percent of Americans (including 19 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of independents) approving of Trump’s handling of his transition. CNN offered some data comparing the mood of the public as compared to Trump’s first transition in 2016 and found:
Expectations that [Trump] will bring change for the better are higher (48% say so now, up from 43% in November 2016). The shares saying that he’ll bring change for the worse (20% now vs. 21% in 2016) or no change at all (31% now vs. 32% in 2016) are nearly identical to where they stood eight years ago.
This last data point is especially interesting given the audacity of Trump’s plans and the power he is likely to have to implement them: 48 percent of Democrats think Trump “will not be able to change the country.” They must have more confidence in congressional Democrats or the courts to put up an effective resistance than those of us who get paid to follow this stuff.
As for the rogues’ gallery of nominees Trump has proposed for high office, it’s interesting that CNN finds that 20 percent of Democrats and 48 percent of independents have some degree of confidence in Trump in “appointing the best people to office.” This percentage rises to a lofty 94 percent among Republicans, which helps explain why Senate Republicans are mostly keeping their mouths shut about such poorly qualified nominees as Pete Hegseth or scary people like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kash Patel.
So why are Americans generally unexcited about what’s going on between Washington and Mar-a-Lago? There are a number of reasons. Many (particularly in battleground states) are relieved that the barrage of campaign ads and other election communications have ended. Others are even more relieved we aren’t experiencing a contested outcome and nobody’s planning to march on the Capitol and string up lawmakers next month. And still others have tuned out on politics altogether and are happily paying little attention to what Trump’s cooking up in the infernal kitchen of his transition operation. This could all change swiftly when Trump starts implementing his policies in January.
