Plus polling on Trump's legacy, the Iran war, the election, confidence in institutions, Elon Musk, and how Americans' life outlook and political activity have changed in the past decade.
All of the following items are among Election Day registered voters — those U.S. adult citizens who either are registered to vote or who say they plan to register before Election Day.
- 62% think Trump does not care much (11%) or at all (50%) about the needs and problems of people like them; 36% think he cares a lot (21%) or some (15%)
- 49% think Trump will go down in history as a poor president, while 17% think he'll be seen as outstanding, 13% above average, 8% average, and 7% below average. See more on Trump's historical standing
- 56% think the decision to go to war in Iran was the wrong decision and 29% think it was the right decision. 91% of Democrats and 65% of Independents say it was wrong, compared with 17% of Republicans. 60% of Republicans say it was the right decision
- 41% are more enthusiastic about voting in this year's election than in previous congressional election years, 17% less enthusiastic, and 37% about the same. 51% of Democrats, 41% of Republicans, and 29% of Independents are more enthusiastic about voting than in the past
- Among people who say they will definitely vote, will probably vote, or have already voted, 43% say they will cast their vote in person on Election Day, 24% in person before Election Day, and 31% by mail or absentee ballot
- 61% have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the military, the highest share for nine institutions the poll asked about. Confidence is lowest in Congress, at 17%, behind the criminal justice system (26%) and the Department of Justice (28%)
- More have a very or somewhat favorable opinion of Elon Musk than of Mark Zuckerberg (39% vs. 25%)
- 48% say they are less optimistic about life now than they were 10 years ago, while 23% are more optimistic and 29% about the same
- We asked respondents to say in their own words what worries, if any, they have about the election. With the help of an AI tool to analyze responses, we find that 32% of Democrats and 1% of Republicans are worried about Trump interfering. (Respondents who named multiple worries are counted in multiple categories.) 5% of Democrats and 23% of Republicans are worried about fraud and cheating
- We also asked respondents to interpret in their own words what Trump meant when he said about Iran, "Let them take, let them take out Los Angeles; let them take out San Diego," after showing them a clip of his remarks. Respondents could give more than one interpretation. With the help of an AI tool to categorize responses, we find that 39% of Democrats and 10% of Republicans say Trump was inviting or accepting a foreign attack. 4% of Democrats and 20% of Republicans say he didn't mean it, because he was joking or otherwise
See the toplines and crosstabs for the October 10–12, 2026 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,548 U.S. adult citizens, including 1,403 who reported that they were currently registered to vote or planned to register before the election in November. Respondents were selected from YouGov's opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, U.S. region, 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 those who are currently registered to vote or who plan to register before the election in November is approximately 3.5%.
Image: Getty (Megan Varner / Stringer)
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