More than half of Americans are not confident in Donald Trump’s abilities to appoint well-qualified people to his cabinet or manage government spending effectively, despite recently electing him to lead the United States, according to a new poll.
Just 44 percent of U.S. adults reported feeling “very” or even “moderately” confident that Trump will appoint well-qualified individuals for cabinet or high-level government positions.
The new results from the Associated Press and NORC arrive as the president-elect has selected a group of controversial individuals to serve in his cabinet and other high-level positions including former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and more.
Those three nominations are particularly expected to face an uphill battle during Senate confirmations.
And publicly, people aren’t fans either. Hegseth, Gabbard and Kennedy all face low approval ratings from those surveyed.
Hegseth, the defense secretary nominee, is currently battling sexual assault allegations while Gabbard, the CIA director nominee, is facing questions about her foreign relationships and Kennedy, the Health and Human Services secretary nominee, has a history of pushing health-related conspiracy theories.
The poll also found that 47 percent of U.S. adults said they feel “very” or “moderately” confident that Trump can effectively manage a government budget.
Trump has specifically tapped billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new government advisory committee, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to drastically cut back government spending.
But beyond his cabinet picks and government spending, the public also has a low level of confidence in Trump’s ability to oversee the military and White House.
During his first term, Trump saw a high rate of turnover within his administration which could contribute to the public’s low level of confidence and expectations in crafting and maintaining a new administration.
Unsurprisingly, Democrats and independent voters are more likely to view Trump’s confidence negatively than Republicans. But still, the poll shows the public has less confidence in the prescient-elect than they did in President Joe Biden.
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Additional reporting by AP.
