2016 US Politics - Trump Announces Potential Appointments For The New Administration (December 1)

Trends

Overall, 60% of Americans believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction, with Democrats’ (60%), Republicans’ (64%), and Independents’ (61%) all having about the same amount of pessimism.

The economy remains at the top of the list of the most serious problem facing the United States, at 19%.

Approval

President Obama’s approval rating has climbed to 53% approve, with disapproval at 42%

Both Mike Pence and Donald Trump are enjoying higher favorability since the election with over half (55%) favorable towards the Vice President-Elect and almost half (48%) currently favorable towards President-Elect Donald Trump.

Trump Administration

As President-Elect Trump announces potential appointments for the new administration, we will be gauging the American public’s opinion of those candidates. This week:

• Rudy Giuliani is the best known and regarded of the first batch tested with 88% of Americans aware of him and 58% of these holding favorable opinions towards him.
• Jeff Sessions (66% aware, 47% favorable), Mike Pompeo (62% aware, 44% favorable), Reince Priebus (61% aware, 45% favorable) and Jared Kushner (58% aware, 43% favorable) are all only moderately well-known, with fairly low favorability ratings (all below the 50% mark)
• Stephen Bannon’s ratings follows a different pattern, with similar proportions (65%) of Americans aware of him but a more decidedly negative assessment when it comes to favorability (39% favorable, 61% unfavorable).

President-Elect Trump’s personnel moves to date have not filled Americans with confidence. Currently only 33% of Americans say Donald Trump’s choices for his cabinet make them feel more confident about the new administration (compared to 42% less confident).

These are findings from an Ipsos poll conducted for Thomson Reuters November 25- 59, 2016. For the survey, a sample of 1,704 Americans, including 687 Democrats, 647 Republicans,207 Independents ages 18+ were interviewed online.