A significant majority of Americans believe President-elect Donald Trump will succeed in addressing key issues such as controlling illegal immigration, boosting the economy, reducing unemployment, and keeping the United States out of war. According to a December Gallup poll, 68 percent of Americans expressed confidence in Trump’s ability to manage illegal immigration effectively. The president-elect has pledged to carry out the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”
“Expectations are highest that Trump will control illegal immigration, which 68% of U.S. adults predict he’ll do,” the pollsters reported on January 2. “Smaller majorities believe he will reduce unemployment, keep the country safe from terrorism, improve the economy, keep the country out of war, cut people’s taxes or reduce the crime rate.” Confidence in Trump’s ability to keep America out of wars has significantly increased since his first election in 2016. Back then, only 38 percent of Americans believed he could achieve this. Today, that figure has risen to 55 percent, according to the latest survey.
“Far more Americans now than in 2016 believe Trump will keep the nation out of war, rising 17 percentage points to 55%,” Gallup reports. “By contrast, in 2016, the majority (57%) doubted he would keep the country out of war. This shift likely reflects Trump’s claims that the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars would not have occurred had he been president, that he will end both quickly, and that he started ‘no new wars’ in his first term.”
Most respondents also believed Trump will “increase respect for the United States abroad.” Conversely, Americans have little hope that Trump will be able to heal political divisions, improve the healthcare system, fix race relations, or “improve conditions for minorities and the poor.” The skepticism regarding his ability to improve the quality of life for “poor people and minorities” stands in contrast to the confidence in his ability to reduce unemployment and strengthen the economy—both of which would positively impact all Americans, including these demographics.