Republicans are confident in Trump's leadership -- but fewer like his ethics, poll finds

Kate Linderman, The Charlotte Observer on Feb 10, 2025

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President Donald Trump nears the one-month mark of his second term with confidence from Republicans about his leadership skills and mental capacity to take on the highest office, a recent poll says.

While 76% of Republicans tout his leadership skills, the poll found a significant drop in his ability to act ethically.

The Pew Research Center poll released Friday found that 55% of Republicans said Trump acts ethically in his presidential role, a 21% drop from those that said he had leadership skills.

Democrats in the poll were significantly less confident in Trump’s ability to do the job. Just 7% said he had the leadership skills to do the job, with as low as 3% of Democrats saying he picked good advisers, the poll found.

How do Republicans feel about Trump’s traits?

Though support for Trump’s ethics is significantly lower than other traits, confidence in his ethics has risen since 2024, the poll found.

As Trump was winning Republican primary races, just 46% of Republicans or those that leaned Republican showed confidence in his ethics, according to Pew. In just nine months, that number has climbed 9 percentage points, the poll said.

Additionally, trust in Trump’s respect for democracy wavers when compared to his leadership skills, the poll found. Sixty percent of Republicans and 31% of all adults say the president has respect for American democracy.

Overall confidence lacks

Trump has the backing from his own party, but overall, Americans said they lack trust in Trump’s ability to appoint good advisers, act ethically and lead the country, the poll found.

Eighty-four percent of Republicans approve of Trump’s work, Pew found. However, less than half, 47% of those polled, approve of the president.

When it comes to his character traits, 40% of Americans think he has necessary leadership skills required for a president and 39% think he is mentally fit enough to do the job. That’s compared to the approximately three-quarters of Republicans that touted his leadership and mental fitness.

Support trickled downward when Pew looked at all the Americans polled. Just 29% said the president acts ethically in office and 31% said he respects democratic values.

The Pew Research Poll surveyed 5,086 adults between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2. The margin of error was 1.6 percentage points.

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