What do Americans think of Trump's executive actions?

In just the first couple days of his second term, President Donald Trump has already taken an extraordinary amount of executive action. On Monday alone, he issued 26 executive orders, 12 legally binding memoranda and four presidential proclamations. It's very unusual for presidents to take so many unilateral actions so early in their term: Before this week, the modern record for most executive orders signed on a president's first day was nine (set by Trump's predecessor, former President Joe Biden). And Trump is moving much faster to enact his agenda than he did in his first term: He issued more executive orders on Jan. 20, 2025, than he did in the first three months of 2017 combined.

But how will these sweeping policy changes sit with the American people? We dug up recent polling on 15 of the policies Trump has already issued. While Americans as a whole support some of them, particularly the ones cracking down on immigration, most of the other executive actions he took on Monday are unpopular among the public.

Detaining immigrants accused of crimes: Popular

Several of Trump's immigration priorities were packaged in a sweeping executive order signed Monday that included a variety of steps intended both to increase security on the southern border and make it easier to deport immigrants currently in the country. One key component directs the Homeland Security Department to detain "aliens apprehended on suspicion of violating Federal or State law," a provision similar to the Laken Riley Act that the Senate also passed on Monday.

Americans generally agree with this approach, and might even be willing to go further: In a Beacon Research/Shaw & Company Research/Fox News poll from January, 59 percent of registered voters said they would favor not just detaining but deporting "illegal immigrants who have been charged with crimes" while allowing law-abiding immigrants to "remain in the U.S. and eventually qualify for citizenship." Another 30 percent said they would support deporting all illegal immigrants in the country.

Building a wall at the southern border: Popular

In the same executive order, Trump also directed the Defense and Homeland Security departments to take steps to continue his 2016 campaign promise to build a wall at the southern border, which he also attempted during his first term. In the latest poll for The Wall Street Journal from Fabrizio, Lee & Associates/GBAO, voters supported the policy by a margin of 9 percentage points, 53 percent to 44 percent, including 41 percent saying they "strongly favor" building a wall.

After the recent surge in migration, Americans' opinions have evolved on this issue, which used to be quite unpopular. For example, just after Trump's first election win in 2016, a Politico/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health poll showed only 35 percent of Americans said they supported building the wall, while 62 percent opposed it.

Declaring a national emergency at the border: Popular

To give his administration more authority to crack down on illegal immigration, Trump also proclaimed a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. A November poll from Scott Rasmussen/Napolitan News Service suggests that this declaration will be popular: 55 percent of registered voters supported it, while 38 percent were opposed.

Using the military to secure the border: Popular

Citing the national emergency, Trump also issued an executive order directing the military to help stop "unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking" at the border. According to a December poll by Hart Research/Public Opinion Strategies for CNBC, 60 percent of Americans thought deploying the military to the border to stop illegal drugs and human trafficking should be a top priority for the Trump administration. Only 24 percent opposed it.

Ending birthright citizenship: Unpopular

However, at least one of Trump's executive orders on immigration may not meet with such a warm reception from Americans: his order attempting to end birthright citizenship for people whose parents are in the U.S. illegally. (This action will likely get blocked in court, as the Constitution states that people born in the U.S. are automatically citizens.) An Ipsos/New York Times poll from Jan. 2-10 found that Americans oppose ending birthright citizenship for children born to immigrants who are here illegally, 55 percent to 41 percent.

Reducing costs: Popular

One of the actions that Trump signed with great pomp and circumstance during his inaugural parade was a memorandum ordering all executive departments and agencies to "deliver emergency price relief … to the American people and increase the prosperity of the American worker." Trump probably did this because he knows it's exactly what Americans want: Per a Cygnal poll earlier this month, 85 percent of likely 2026 voters said reducing inflation and lowering the cost of living was extremely or very important to them, making it far and away their top policy priority.

However, Trump's memo will probably wind up as largely symbolic; it was devoid of any specifics and unlikely to lower costs in any direct way. As our colleague Monica Potts wrote last week, taking direct action on the economy is a challenge for presidents. Trump's first day notably did not include major actions on his proposed tariffs and tax cuts, two key pieces of his economic policy.

Jan. 6 pardons: Unpopular

Trump also issued a blanket pardon Monday for anyone convicted of offenses surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. That includes more than 1,500 individuals who have been arrested since the attack, over 80 percent of whom had already been convicted. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to do this, but it's not likely to play well with the public. In a recent Marist College survey for NPR and PBS News, 62 percent of Americans said they disapproved of Trump taking such an action, and a similar share (57 percent) were opposed in the latest Fabrizio, Lee & Associates/GBAO poll for The Wall Street Journal. The pardons are almost certain to please Trump's base, though: 64 percent of Republicans in the Marist/NPR/PBS News poll approved of them.

Saving TikTok: Unpopular

Last April, Congress passed and Biden signed a bipartisan law requiring TikTok to shut down in the U.S. if it could not find an American buyer, citing national security concerns related to the Chinese-owned app. The controversial law was later upheld by a unanimous Supreme Court decision. But on Monday, Trump issued an executive order delaying the closure of the app for 75 days to attempt to find a buyer.

Overall, banning TikTok appears to have tepid support among Americans: 44 percent said they supported the ban compared to 22 percent who opposed it in a January survey by YouGov/The Economist. However, 34 percent were not sure, so there's probably some room for change in these numbers. And unsurprisingly, the popularity of a TikTok ban among poll respondents depended, in large part, on how old they were: Majorities of Americans over the age of 45 supported a TikTok ban in the poll, but Americans aged 18-29 opposed the ban, 43 percent to 27 percent.

Increasing oil drilling: Mixed

Trump took several steps on Monday to enact his campaign promise to "drill, baby, drill." One executive order declared a "national energy emergency" to facilitate energy development, while another directed agencies to reduce burdens on domestic energy development, expedite energy permitting and encourage energy production on federal lands and waters. (As part of yet another executive order, Trump also reversed some of Biden's 2024 actions to block offshore oil and gas drilling.)

Public opinion on these policies is divided. Shortly after the election, an Ipsos/Scripps News poll found that 48 percent of Americans opposed a policy like Trump's to ease restrictions on fossil fuel production, while 46 percent supported it. It's a similar story when it comes to drilling on federal lands specifically: Earlier this month, an Associated Press/NORC poll found that 39 percent of registered voters opposed and 35 percent supported actions to boost oil drilling on federal lands, while the aforementioned Fabrizio, Lee & Associates/GBAO/Wall Street Journal poll found 46 percent of Americans opposed and 50 percent in support.

Eliminating electric vehicle subsidies: Mixed

As part of his executive order addressing energy policy, Trump also took steps to reverse policies he referred to as the "electric vehicle mandate," outlining plans to ease regulations and emissions standards for gas-powered vehicles and eliminate Biden-era subsidies for electric vehicle purchases, manufacturing and infrastructure.

In recent years, Americans have become more skeptical about EVs, with fewer people saying they would consider such a vehicle amid concerns about reliability, range and prices. Even so, voters are split on whether the government should be incentivizing EV manufacturing and purchases. In a June 2023 Harvard/Harris poll, 52 percent of registered voters said that the purchase of electric cars should be subsidized by the government, while 48 percent said it should not. And in a University of Maryland Program for Public Consultation survey in July, a majority of respondents nationally said the Biden-era tax credits for EVs should be increased or kept at their current level, including tax credits for manufacturing electric buses, installing new public charging stations and individuals purchasing new or used EVs.

Withdrawing from the Paris accord: Unpopular

In another hit to sustainable energy, Trump began the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, an international commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Americans may not be too happy about this move, as the AP/NORC poll found 52 percent opposed to the withdrawal and only 21 percent in favor (with 26 percent undecided or neutral). That does leave a lot of room for convincing, especially among Republicans, who continue to believe policies to mitigate climate change hurt the U.S. economy.

But opinions on this issue have actually remained pretty consistently in favor of the Paris agreement since its inception: 62 percent of Americans were opposed when Trump withdrew from it for the first time back in 2017, and the same share supported Biden's decision to rejoin in 2021.

Ending DEI programs in the federal government: Mixed

Also on Monday, Trump issued an executive order ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the federal government that were primarily begun under the Biden administration, including, among other things, environmental justice programs and equity-related employment practices and initiatives.

But polls are mixed on whether Americans support such a move, and the result seems to depend quite a bit on the question wording: In a Harvard/Harris poll from January, for example, voters supported "ending hiring for government jobs on the basis of race and returning to merit hiring of government employees," 59 percent to 41 percent. But in a Pew Research poll conducted in October, a majority of voters (52 percent) said that "focusing on increasing diversity, equity and inclusion at work" is "mainly a good thing," while just 21 percent said it's "mainly a bad thing."

Declaring there are only two sexes: Popular

Another culture-war-oriented executive order declared that it is now U.S. government policy that there are only two sexes: male and female. The order also bans the use of federal funds for gender-affirming care for inmates and urges the protection of single-sex spaces and facilities, including the assignment of transgender people to prisons that match their sex "at conception."

This one is likely to go down well with a majority of Americans: According to a poll by the Public Religion Research Institute in 2023, 65 percent of Americans believed there were only two gender identities, and only 34 percent said there were more than two. And a May 2024 survey from McLaughlin & Associates/America's New Majority Project found that registered voters supported a law that "forbids taxpayer dollars from being used to pay for gender reassignment surgery," 59 percent to 30 percent. (However, because America's New Majority Project is a Republican sponsor, it's possible those numbers are too favorable for the conservative side.)

Turning federal workers from career civil servants into at-will employees: Unpopular

Another of Trump's executive orders restored one of his first-term executive orders that Biden rescinded: the creation of a new classification for federal workers, Schedule F, that removes longstanding employment protections for civil servants. Essentially, this turns a large portion of permanent employees of government agencies into at-will employees whom the president can fire (which Trump has promised to do as part of his efforts to expunge the "deep state"). A May 2024 poll from Ipsos found that this policy would not be very popular: Only 28 percent of Americans supported it, while 49 percent opposed it (a significant number, 21 percent, were also undecided).

A move to fire large swaths of civil servants would likely be even less popular. According to a different Ipsos poll from December, roughly 60-65 percent of Americans disagree that the president has the right to fire non-political federal employees who disagree with the administration's policies, execute their job in a way the president does not like or belong to the opposite political party.

Renaming the Gulf of Mexico: Unpopular

Finally, in probably his most unusual executive order, Trump on Monday directed the secretary of the interior to rename the Gulf of Mexico and refer to it instead as the "Gulf of America." He also reversed former President Barack Obama's renaming of the nation's tallest mountain, changing it from Denali back to Mount McKinley in a move that irked some prominent Alaskans.

We haven't seen national polling about Denali's name change, but Americans fiercely opposed renaming the Gulf of Mexico in the latest Harris/Harvard CAPS poll. Seventy-two percent of respondents in that survey opposed the name change, while just 28 percent supported it. Even among Republicans, who were the most likely to support the move, a majority (57 percent) were still opposed.