National Marquette Poll Discovers Polarizing Trends

The Marquette Law School national survey conducted from Jan. 27 to Feb. 5, indicates deepening polarization between Democrats and Republicans, but skepticism across the aisle has grown in regards to the state of the nation.

The total opinion on President Donald J. Trump himself is at 54% unfavorable and 44% favorable with 2% of responders unsure. However, Trump is still more favored by the public than former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, according to the poll.

The opinions shown in this poll do fluctuate on certain executive orders recently pushed by President Trump.

When asked if they favor or oppose the mass pardoning of 1,500 people convicted after Jan. 6, 65% responded oppose. 71% of people oppose the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, with 43% of Republicans responding oppose. 

The survey allowed for responders to write comments about how they feel on the Trump presidency, around 47% of all comments offered mixed opinions. 

“Promises made, promises kept, tired of politicians who lie to your face to get elected and then just feather their own nest,” said one 80-year-old white man. “Tone down the rhetoric and don’t be so crude.”

People with mixed opinions on Trump differ amongst age groups.

“I like his policy on immigration, I also like his implementation of tariffs to encourage more things being produced in America,(but) he doesn’t think before he speaks some of the time,” said a 24 year old white male. 

Compared to the 2020 national poll, 48% of responders say that Trump is doing a good job which is an increase of seven percent from that poll. With the approval rating maintaining strict party boundaries. However, 62% of responders feel like the country is on the wrong track, which is a sharp decrease from 80% of responders saying the country was on the wrong track in October. 

Trump’s cabinet nominees have also experienced middling responses. With the opinion polls slightly tipping against most nominees, but large portions of the public seem to know very little about them.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the only nominee who maintains favorability with 43% of responders and unfavorability with 31% while the remaining 26% haven’t heard enough to form a strong opinion. 

For Robert F. Kennedy 14% , followed by 35% who haven’t heard enough about Pete Hegseth and 43% who haven’t heard about Attorney General Pam Bondi. 

Responses to this poll either follow direct party politics or with heavy skepticism. Polarization within politics still exists, but this national poll is showing a growing trend of Americans questioning party leadership and core beliefs. 

A majority of responses on this poll come from a diverse group of responders. No one age group, economic class or ethnicity answered the questions consistently one way or another. People aged 60 and up strongly approve of Trump by 38% while 43% strongly disapprove. Males are split too with 35% who strongly approve and 37% strongly disapprove.

The main disparities with answers come from political ideology, education, race and religion, with 94% of people who identify as very conservative approve of Trump and 98% of individuals who identify as very liberal disapprove. 

Individuals with a bachelors degree and those with a postgraduate degree disapprove of Trump with 58% and 66% saying this respectively. While 59% of those with no high school diploma and 55% with just a diploma approve of Trump. Individuals with some post high school education are evenly split in opinion. 

Most people who identify as not white disapprove of Trump with 82% of Black responders disapproving, being the widest disparity. Almost 45% of white responders, 59% of Hispanic responders and 53% of those who identified as other, all disapproved however, these margins are relatively close. 

In terms of religion, the majority of individuals who identify as born again protestants widely support Trump with a 71% approval rate in that group. Those who don’t follow a religion have a 67% disapproval rating of Trump. However, mainline Protestants, Roman Catholics and people of other religions have a much closer margin. With people of other religions having a higher disapproval rate of 59% amongst this group. 

The poll is conducted with the SSRS opinion panel which is a national probability sample with interviews done online. The margin of error for each statistic is +/- 3.5%.