With the House expected to vote this week on a resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the latest Economist / YouGov Poll of 3,166 registered voters finds that 42% of registered voters think Congress should impeach Hegseth and 35% think it should not; 23% are not sure. Support for impeaching Hegseth is at about the same level as support for impeaching Donald Trump, but opposition is lower: 41% say Congress should impeach Trump and 46% say it should not.
The difference is among Republicans: 85% of Republicans say Congress should not impeach Trump, but only 68% say the same about Hegseth. 24% of Republicans aren’t sure whether Congress should impeach Hegseth, compared with 8% who aren't sure if Trump should be impeached. Among Democrats, 4% oppose impeaching Hegseth and 11% oppose impeaching Trump.
About half (52%) think it is very or somewhat likely that the new Congress will impeach Trump. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to think it is likely (57% vs. 47%).
The poll also asked registered voters to say in their own words what the priorities of the next Congress should be. With the help of an AI tool to analyze responses, we find that the cost of living is the priority named most often overall (by roughly one-quarter), and the priority Republicans name most often. Democrats name holding Trump accountable about as often as the cost of living, and much more often than Republicans do; the same is true of stopping corruption. Republicans name immigration and supporting Trump’s agenda more often than Democrats do.
Beyond the priorities they name in their own words, majorities back several specific policies the new Congress could take up. Majorities say spending should be increased a lot or slightly on health care (70%), education (65%), and the environment (56%). 60% support “Medicare for all” and 30% oppose it. 55% support increasing taxes on families earning over $250,000 annually and 31% oppose it. 60% say the amount billionaires are currently taxed in the U.S. is too low; only 7% say it is too high. 54% say tariffs on foreign goods imported into the U.S. should be decreased, compared with 10% who say they should be increased.
Americans are more likely to say Democrats than Republicans would do a better job handling four of the six issues the poll asked about: health care (49% say Democrats and 26% say Republicans), tariffs (43% vs. 29%), inflation (42% vs. 30%), and the war in Iran (40% vs. 32%). More say Republicans would do a better job handling crime (43% say Republicans vs. 29% say Democrats) and immigration (43% vs. 38%).
Fewer Republicans than before the election say their own party would do a better job on the three issues the poll also asked about in late October. 64% of Republicans say Republicans would do a better job than Democrats handling inflation, down from 76% in October; 59% say so about health care, down from 71%, and 85% about immigration, down from 90%. The shares of Democrats who say their own party would do a better job have changed little.
Republicans are also more likely than before the election to want a member of Congress who compromises. 61% of Republicans would rather have one who “compromises to get things done” than one who “sticks to their principles, no matter what,” up from 53% in late October. 63% of Democrats prefer a member who compromises, the same as in late October.
Image: Getty (Alex Wong / Staff)
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