A new YouGov survey asked Americans which descriptors apply to Donald Trump, which issues they trust him to handle, and how democracy is functioning in the U.S. The survey also found that many Americans see economic collapse and civil war in the not-too-distant future for the U.S.

The description Americans are most likely to say applies a lot to Donald Trump — from 22 options — is arrogant (65%). Majorities also say opportunistic (57%), reckless (56%), dishonest (54%), and corrupt (54%) are descriptions that apply a lot to Trump.

Which words do Americans say don’t apply to Trump at all? Majorities say the words compassionate (57%), inspirational (57%), honest (54%), and likable (54%) don’t apply to him at all.

Americans are more likely now than they were in March 2025 to say the following words describe Trump a lot: ineffective (46% now vs. 36% in March 2025), corrupt (54% vs. 46%), dishonest (54% vs. 47%), and hypocritical 53% vs. 46%).

Descriptions of Trump are highly partisan. Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to say the following descriptions apply a lot to Trump: a strong leader (80% vs. 7%), qualified (77% vs. 5%), intelligent (75% vs. 6%), and competent (74% vs. 5%). Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to describe Trump as corrupt (93% vs. 10%) dishonest (91% vs. 10%), and reckless (91% vs. 13%).

Americans are more likely to say they have a lot of trust in Trump’s ability to handle immigration than in his ability to handle any of the other 20 issues asked about. 39% trust him a lot on immigration, but more (47%) say they don’t trust his handling of immigration at all. Around one-third of Americans have a lot of trust in Trump’s ability to handle each of crime (34%), foreign policy (33%), the economy (32%), and foreign trade (32%).

The greatest shares of Americans don’t trust Trump at all to handle LGBTQ issues (58%), transgender issues (58%), the environment (57%), race relations (57%), democracy (55%), and abortion (55%).

In March 2025, a larger share of Americans had a lot of trust in Trump’s ability to handle immigration (47%). Among Republicans, the share who trust Trump a lot to handle immigration has dropped to 79% from 93% last year. But immigration remains the issue Republicans are most likely to say they trust Trump to handle. Slightly fewer Republicans have a lot of trust in his handling of each of foreign policy (72%), crime (71%), foreign trade (69%), the economy (67%), and democracy (67%).

There is no issue that more than 8% of Democrats trust Trump a lot to handle.

At least 80% of Democrats don’t trust Trump at all to handle each of the 21 issues asked about.

About 4 in 10 (39%) of Americans think democracy is working somewhat (29%) or very (10%) well in the U.S. today. One-third (33%) say it’s not working too well, and 28% say it’s not working well at all.

Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say democracy is working well in the U.S. today (73% vs. 12%).

Democrats are less likely now than they were in March 2025 to say democracy is working somewhat or very well (12%, down from 21%).

The majority (57%) of Americans agree that the U.S. is in a constitutional crisis. Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to agree with this statement (85% vs. 28%). About half (53%) of Americans agree that the U.S. is a democracy; less agree that the U.S. government has a robust system of checks and balances (39%).

43% of Americans agree that the U.S. economy is in a recession (43%). About one-quarter (24%) say the U.S. is a dictatorship.

One-quarter (25%) of Americans — including 36% of Democrats and 9% of Republicans — think the U.S. will have a dictator within their lifetime. Most (56%) say it will not. The vast majority (83%) of Americans say it would be a bad thing for the U.S. to have a dictator in charge. 88% of Democrats and 82% of Republicans say this. Few Americans say having a dictator in charge would be a good thing (2%) or neither a good nor a bad thing (7%).

40% of Americans say the U.S. is an oligarchy, defined in the question as “a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.” About one-third (34%) say it is not. The majority (55%) of Democrats and 20% of Republicans say the U.S. is an oligarchy.

42% of Americans think it’s very or somewhat likely that the U.S. will see a total economic collapse in the next 10 years. Shares of about one-third say it’s very or somewhat likely that within 10 years there will be a civil war (36%), that the U.S. will gain new territory (35%), and that the U.S. will no longer be a democracy (31%). About one-quarter (23%) think it’s likely that the U.S. will not hold elections in a year when they are scheduled.

Democrats are about twice as likely as Republicans to say it’s likely in the next 10 years that there will be a total economic collapse (53% vs. 28%) and that the U.S. will no longer be a democracy (42% vs. 18%).

Related:

See the results for this YouGov survey

— Carl Bialik contributed to this article

Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted on February 24 - March 1, 2026 among 1,111 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4 percentage points.

Image: Getty

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