Nearly six in 10 Americans believe that Donald Trump has profited from his presidency unethically, a new poll has found. The recent AP-NORC survey found that 41% of US adults think the president has done something illegal, while 18% believe that his conduct is unethical but legal. Another 18% say he’s done nothing wrong at all, while 21% admit to not knowing enough to be able to judge.
These are poll respondents’ views, rather than actual findings that any laws have been broken. The White House rejects any such accusations, and the administration maintains that the president has absolutely no conflicts of interest and acts only for the good of the country.
Priorities and partisanship
Asked where his attention goes, 56% maintained Trump has prioritised his own business interests ‘a lot’ since returning to office. Some 54% said the same about the businesses of his friends and family. Just 23% gave that answer for the country overall, falling to 11% for people like themselves.
Republicans give the former Apprentice star considerably better marks. Around half say that he’s prioritised the country ‘a lot’, while roughly a quarter say that about his own businesses. About a quarter also believe he’s given people like them that level of attention.
John Bartus, a Republican from Twin Falls, Idaho, pointed to Trump’s agreement to donate his $400,000 annual presidential salary. The 67-year-old part-time supermarket worker said: ‘It seems like his business interests are a part of his life, but it doesn’t seem like he lets that interfere with what’s going on in the country.’ He added: ‘He puts it on the back burner.’
Legal views and business expansion
Whether people think Trump has acted illegally also depends rather heavily on their politics. Around 80% of Democrats believe that the man’s broken the law, compared with 30% of independents and only 10% of Republicans. Most Republicans either see no wrongdoing or say that don’t know enough to be able to say either way.
Audra Pelsue, 52, a Republican who manages at a laundry machine manufacturer in Syracuse, New York, draws a distinction between Trump and his relatives. ‘His family has probably benefited, but I don’t think he has,’ she told the Associated Press. She dismissed criticism as the now classic ‘Trump derangement syndrome’.
Barbara Thaxton, an 87-year-old independent from Summerfield, Florida, sees a different picture. ‘His wealth increases,’ the retiree said, ‘but the people in the country are just barely getting by.’
Not everyone who voted for Trump is happy. Oscar Delgado, a 50-year-old Democrat from Lansing, Michigan, backed him in 2024 because he thought he could improve things. The Ford metal stamping factory worker now accuses him of ‘turning greedy’. ‘He’s not putting the country first,’ Delgado said. ‘I wanted a change, but I didn’t expect this change.’
Away from the polling, the Trump family’s business interests have been expanding. During his second term, the president has lifted a self-imposed ban on his family striking private-sector deals overseas and launched several cryptocurrency businesses. According to AP, a financial disclosure that Trump filed in June reported more than $1 billion from new crypto businesses. His administration has also loosened regulation of the industry.
One of his biggest cryptocurrency ventures received a $500 million investment after his election from a United Arab Emirates business linked to the royal family. AP reported that it also received help from a cryptocurrency company founded by a Chinese billionaire facing legal problems in the US. The Trump Organization has also struck eight foreign property deals during the first year of his second term, according to AP.
Trump previously dismissed concerns about conflicts of interest, telling The New York Times: ‘I found out that nobody cared.’
State approval ratings
The AP-NORC survey questioned 2,140 adults between September 24 and 28 using NORC’s representative AmeriSpeak Panel. Its overall margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
A different poll offers another measure of the president’s standing as the midterms approach. Civiqs’ figures show negative net approval in a full 39 states, positive ratings in just 10 and Montana level. Nationally, 34% of registered voters approve of his performance and 59% disapprove.
Net approval is the gap between approval and disapproval. Trump stands at −20 points in Texas, −21 in Iowa, −18 in Ohio and North Carolina and −14 in Alaska. Wyoming gives him his strongest result at +16, followed by North Dakota at +13 and West Virginia at +11.
Republicans are currently seeking to keep control of Congress in November’s midterms, now just a few weeks away. Democratic control of both chambers could make passing Trump’s legislation harder during his two remaining years. His approval ratings, however, aren’t a forecast of who’ll win the individual races.
