New Marquette Poll Highlights Deep Political Divides

A new Marquette Law poll finds President Trump’s approval rating at 48%, but voters are deeply divided on party lines about policy issues.

Despite the president’s approval rating rising from 41% to 48%, party lines remained a major factor in the way people responded to the poll. Many of the results of the poll showed deep divisions among the parties. Trump has an approval rating of 89% among Republicans, while 91% of Democrats disapprove. 

“I like that he is trying to make the US stronger,” said a 45-year-old man who participated in the survey. “He is only concerned about Trump. Very disappointed he pardoned the Jan. 6 people.”  

Some of the issues dividing voters were immigration, pardoning the Jan. 6 defendants, and his picks for his cabinet. However, the poll did find some consensus on issues like trust in the government, and the state of the economy. 

“Partisan differences are large, with a majority of Republicans supporting all the Trump policies, a majority of Democrats opposed to each policy, and majorities of independents supporting some policies while opposing others,” according to the survey. 

Breaking Down the Poll

• Immagation
  • While 60% of people are for deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally, 57% oppose deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally, but have a job and no criminal record.
  • There is a deep divide among party lines, with 67% of Republicans being for deportation, even without a criminal record, while only 22% of Democrats are for it.  
• Jan. 6 Pardons
  • The pardoning of those convicted of committing violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was opposed by 96% of Democrats but had support from 68% of Republicans.
  • There was further divide within those who identified as Republican. 85% of people who identified as “strong” Republicans approved of the pardons, while only 51% of those who identified as “weak” Republicans approved.  
• Cabinet Selections
  • A small majority disapprove of Trump’s cabinet picks, with 52% disapproving of how he has handled his cabinet selections.
  • Secretary of Health and Safety Robert F. Kennedy has an approval rating of 39%.
  • Some picks did have a slightly higher approval rating, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with an approval rating of 43%.
  • None of the positions asked about in the poll had an approval rating of over 50%.

“These numbers have changed very little since December, shortly after these nominations were announced,” according to the poll. “Rubio’s net favorability has increased slightly since December, while Kenndey’s declined.”  

However, there were a few issues that voters from both sides agreed more on, such as trust in the government. The poll found that 68% of Republicans, and 74% of Democrats believed that they could trust the government to do what is right only some of the time.  

Participants on both sides view the state of the national economy as “not so good”, with around 60% of both Democrats and Republicans viewing it that way. However, the effects of tariffs on the economy were another divisive issue, with 80% of Democrats viewing the tariffs as hurting the economy, while only 16% of Republicans feel that way.  

“Each partisan group is less negative about the economy now than in July, with the largest change coming among Republicans,” according to the poll.  

This survey’s participants were adults 18 years of age or older, who live in the United States. It was conducted from Jan. 27th through Feb. 5th of this year, and gathered the answers of 1,018 people, with a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. The researchers sent out a compensative English-only questionnaire in all 50 states to people who were 18 or older. 

The poll was conducted at the Marquette Law School, which is based in Wisconsin, a key battleground state. It’s been a swing state in the past few presidential elections, voting Biden in 2020, and Trump in 2024. There is also a highly competitive Supreme Court race happening, which has had millions of dollars pumped into it, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

Previous Marquette polls have received similarly divisive results, such as their survey in October of 2024 that found similar splits on party lines for policy issues. These polls highlight the deeply divided political climate not only in Wisconsin but also nationwide.