Most Americans approve of President-elect Donald Trump’s handling of his administration’s transition back into the White House — and are bullish about the next four years, a new poll shows.
A sizeable 59% of Americans support his moves so far, as he angles to stack up his next administration with “disrupters,” while 41% disapprove, according to the CBS News/YouGov survey.
Trump, 78, rounded out his cabinet selections last week, though he will still need to navigate the Senate confirmation process to officially get them on his team.
Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. drew the most positive reactions from poll respondents, with 47% ranking him as a “good” pick compared to 34% saying he was “not good.”
Secretary of State-designate Marco Rubio garnered 44% “good” to 25% “not good,” Director of National Intelligence-designate Tulsi Gabbard scored 36% to 27%, and Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth notched 33% to 28%.
The least favorable of the cabinet picks was former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who ended up withdrawing as Trump’s choice to serve as US attorney general over a sex scandal. He nabbed a 30% “good” to 38% “not good” rating.
Many of Trump’s picks have come under fire in the media since being announced. Kennedy’s past skepticism of vaccine safety standards has drawn blowback from health experts and Gabbard’s meeting with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in 2017 has sparked concerns from the intelligence community.
Additionally, Hegseth has faced resurfaced sexual-assault allegations that he denied.
But those various controversies appear to have had a limited effect on public opinion.
Trump has openly floated the possibility of trying to bypass the at times cumbersome Senate confirmation process.
But 76% of respondents want confirmation hearings for his picks, the poll said. More than half, 55%, of even Republicans said they want the hearings, too.
A slim majority of those polled (51%) said they believe loyalty to Trump is an important prerequisite for the incoming president’s political appointees. An overwhelming number of Republicans (81%) felt this way.
With Trump poised to roar back into the White House in about 57 days, public opinion on the country’s future is also looking up, according to the poll.
About 23% of those surveyed described themselves as excited about what Trump will do as president, compared to 30% optimistic, 23% concerned and 23% scared.
Opinion on the future largely split sharply along party lines, with 54% of Republicans excited and 41% optimistic, relative to 35% of Democrats concerned and 50% scared.
Regarding the election outcome, 31% described themselves as happy with the results, compared to 24% satisfied, 23% dissatisfied and 21% downright angry.
Fueling the positive sentiment toward Trump appears to be hope that he will help tackle cost-of-living issues. Forty-four percent of repondents said they believe he will make food prices go down compared to 35% who said they expect costs to rise and 21% who said no change.
The CBS News/YouGov sampled 2,232 US adults between Nov. 19-22 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.
Other polling has similarly found voters approving of Trump’s plans for the future. A Pew Research Center survey determined that 53% of Americans “somewhat” or “strongly” his agenda, compared to 46% who disapprove.
