55% of Republicans say GOP congressional leaders do not have an obligation to support Trump’s policies and programs if they disagree with him. Less than a month into Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the American public is evenly divided over the impact his new administration will have on the federal government: 41% say Trump’s administration will improve the way the federal government works, and 42% say it will make things worse.

Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand Americans’ views of Donald Trump, his presidency and his administration.

For this analysis, we surveyed 5,086 adults from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, 2025. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. This kind of recruitment gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. Surveys were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other factors. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.

Here are the questions used for this report, the topline and the survey methodology.