Reuters/Ipsos Issues Survey April 2025

Washington, DC, April 25, 2025 – The latest Reuters/Ipsos survey finds a majority of Americans continue to express concern about broader national issues including the economy, tariffs, national politics, and foreign policy. The survey also examines President Trump's approval rating generally and on specific issues. 

Detailed Findings:

Americans express broad concern about the nation’s economic trajectory. Twenty-eight percent say the national economy is moving in the right direction, while 57% believe it is on the wrong track. Majorities across political groups report concerns about key financial issues. Eighty-seven percent of Americans say they are concerned about inflation, 86% express concern about the cost of living, and 76% are concerned about the possibility of a recession. These concerns are shared widely: 78% of Republicans, 96% of Democrats, and 89% of Independents report being concerned about inflation.

On immigration, fifty-five percent of Americans support increasing deportations of undocumented immigrants. At the same time, 63% support creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. When asked about enforcement practices, 53% of Americans disagree that undocumented immigrants should be detained in camps while awaiting deportation hearings. Approval of Trump’s overall handling of immigration stands at 45%, with 46% disapproving.

Americans express critical views on international trade, tariffs, and foreign policy. Fifty-two percent of Americans disapprove of the way President Trump is handling international trade, while 36% approve. Half of Americans (50%) say it's not a good idea to raise tariffs if doing so increases consumer prices, while 32% disagree. Thirty-one percent agree that when the U.S. charges tariffs on imported goods, American workers come out ahead, and 45% disagree. On foreign policy more broadly, 31% of Americans believe the United States is headed in the right direction, while 50% say it is on the wrong track.

Forty-two percent of Americans approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president, while 53% disapprove. These results reflect a slight shift since January, when approval was at 45% and disapproval stood at 46%. Forty-five percent approve of Trump's handling of immigration, 37% approve of his management of the economy, and 31% approve of how he is addressing the cost of living. 

To see the full list of questions and responses, please download the topline below. 

About the Study

This Ipsos poll was conducted April 16-21, 2025, on behalf of Reuters using the KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a representative sample of 4,306 U.S. residents, age 18 or older. 

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 1.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.17 for all adults. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult US population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the US. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population.

The study was conducted in English. The data for the total sample were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, Census region, metropolitan status, household income and political party identification. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2024 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS).

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson 
Senior Vice President, U.S. 
Public Affairs 
[email protected]

Annaleise Azevedo Lohr 
Director, U.S. 
Public Affairs
[email protected]

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