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On April 25, a shooter opened fire at the Washington Hilton as it was hosting the White House Correspondents' Dinner. The accused shooter has been charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump, in addition to other charges. This week's Economist / YouGov Poll asked Americans what they think about the risk of assassination attempts against Trump, the job that the Secret Service is doing, and Trump's plans to build a new ballroom so that larger events could be hosted inside the White House.
After the shooting, Americans are slightly more likely to say the Secret Service is doing a good or excellent job of protecting the president than they are to say it is doing a fair or poor job (46% vs. 40%). Republicans (60%) are much more likely than Democrats (39%) or Independents (42%) to say that the Secret Service is doing a good or excellent job.
Ratings of the Secret Service are better today than they were in July 2024, two weeks after Trump was shot in the ear during a presidential campaign event. At that point, 34% of Americans said the Secret Service was doing a good or excellent job and 53% said it was only doing a fair or poor job.
After the shootings at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and during Trump's campaign in 2024, nearly two-thirds (64%) of Americans say Trump is more at risk of assassination than other recent presidents. Only 6% say he is less at risk. Republicans are particularly likely to say that he is at a higher risk of assassination. The vast majority (81%) of Republicans say Trump is more at risk than other recent presidents, compared to 63% of Independents and 46% of Democrats.
Americans are divided over the extent to which rhetoric from Trump's political opponents deserves blame for assassination attempts against him. Half (50%) of Americans say political rhetoric has some or a great deal of responsibility for the assassination attempts, while half (50%) say his opponents' rhetoric bears only a little responsibility or none at all. Opinions on this question are strongly polarized by political party identification. Three-quarters (76%) of Democrats and about half (53%) of Independents say Trump's opponents' rhetoric has little or no responsibility for attempted assassinations, but only 28% of Republicans agree. About half (49%) of Republicans say the opposing rhetoric has a great deal of responsibility.
In the days after the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Trump cited the shooting as evidence that his plans to build a new ballroom at the White House would improve presidents' safety by allowing them to host larger events within the security of the official residence. Despite this, only about one-quarter (26%) of Americans say that it's not safe for presidents to attend events outside the White House. Americans are about twice as likely to say it's safe for presidents to do so (48%).
Trump's decision to tear down the East Wing of the White House to build his new ballroom has little support among Americans. Only one-quarter (25%) support tearing down the East Wing to build a new ballroom, while a majority (55%) oppose it. That's little changed from when we last asked about the project in February; at the time, 25% of Americans supported it and 58% opposed it.
If the ballroom project were to go ahead, most Americans (62%) say it would be better to pay for it with gifts from private donors than for Congress to appropriate funds for the project. Only 16% would prefer funding by congressional appropriation. Majorities of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans would prefer for the project to be privately funded.
Image: Getty (Nathan Howard / Stringer)
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