How Trump Fared in a Major New Poll
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Andrew Ross Sorkin, the founder of Dealbook. Every year, I interview some of the world's most influential leaders across politics, culture, and business at the Dealbook Summit, a live event in New York City. On this year's podcast, you'll hear my unfiltered conversations with Gavin Newsom, the CEO of Palantir and Anthropic, and Erica Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk. Listen to Dealbook Summit wherever you get your podcasts.
Hello? Yeah, hi. My name's Claire Tennisgetter. I work for The New York Times. Do you have five to ten minutes to chat? I believe you took part in one of our polls recently.
Uh, sure. Why not? Sure, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, that sounds great.
Yeah. Okay, go ahead. From The New York Times, I'm Natalie Kittroweth. This is The Daily. How would you sum up your feelings about Trump's second term so far, in one word?
One word? Okay, let's see. Great.
Excellent.
Cautious optimism. A little uneven. Chaotic.
Horrible. Embarrassing. Terrifying. Today, in a major new poll, The New York Times asked voters what they thought of the first eight months of President Trump's second term.
I think the majority of his policies are heading in the right direction.
The economy, for the prices, they're starting to come down. I wish they'd come down more. It's a period that's seen sweeping policy changes that have left little of the country untouched.
One of the biggest reasons that I voted for him was southern border. But the way ICE is doing it is so horrible. I think he's doing a good job. But the one thing I wish that he would do is create some type of program where the people that are already here start a process where you could get legalization. I guess that I'm shocked at some of his actions and disappointed in him.
Maybe generally I wish I hadn't voted for him. My colleague Nate Cohn explains what the survey found and what it may tell us about where the country is heading next.
We need to tone down the rhetoric. We need to work to find common ground and work through differences in opinions.
It's Tuesday, September 30th.
Nate, I've been really looking forward to talking to you because so much has happened over the past several months since you were last on the show. We've had record tariffs, immigration raids, the National Guard in American cities, this massive domestic policy bill passed. There's been an ongoing retribution campaign against Trump's enemies and a wave of political violence. It has honestly been a lot. And here we are, flying blind, no pull to sort it all out. Top line, what did you find?
What are voters' feelings about Trump's second term so far?
Well, after interviewing more than 1,300 Americans from across the country last week, we found almost the exact same results that we did in April. on most of the important questions, despite all that's transpired over the last five or six months. Trump's approval rating is one point different than it was in April. It's at 43% now. The Democrats are up two points in the race for Congress compared to three in April. On almost every issue that we asked about, the results are just within a couple points of what they were six months ago.
Okay, that is not what I was expecting. How is it possible that when so much has changed, the views have essentially remained the same?
I think it's worth going back to where we were when we conducted our last poll. This was just after the Liberation Day tariffs were announced. It was when Kilmar Abrego-Garcia was in El Salvador. And at that time, Donald Trump was suffering a clear political cost for the excesses of his actions. On everything we asked, voters said he was going too far. And his ratings had declined since the election. Now, what's happened since then? He's pulled back on many of the things I just mentioned. Liberation Day tariffs were pulled back. Camaro Obrego-Garcia is in the United States. He's also gone further in a whole bunch of areas that you've already mentioned. But the accumulated effect hasn't necessarily been to worsen his position politically since April.
The voters who he still had with him in April were mostly strongly Republican-leaning voters, voters who backed him in 2016 and 2020 and 2024.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:13
2
What are voters' feelings about Trump's second term so far?
3:13–9:19
3
What did the recent New York Times poll reveal about Trump's approval ratings?
9:19–27:25
4
How have Trump's policies affected public perception on immigration?
27:25–30:20
Speakers
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