Former President Donald J. Trump has gained some 15 points in his net-favorability rating in just over a month, according to a poll.
An Economist/YouGov poll released Wednesday shows that 45 percent of U.S. adults have a favorable view of Trump while 48 percent have an unfavorable one, marking a net difference of -3 percentage points.
The 45th president, the only Republican candidate thus far in the 2024 presidential primary field, has made major strides in his favorability rating compared to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted from December 10-13. Trump’s net rating in that poll registered at -18 points, as 38 percent found him favorable versus 56 percent who viewed him as unfavorable. The jump from -18 points to -3 points is a 15-point net gain.
Trump’s surge coincides with the release of a number of strong populist policy plans on a variety of issues, which he pledges to enact if elected again to the Oval Office. One of these policies is a free-speech plan designed to “shatter the left-wing censorship regime and reclaim the right to free speech for all Americans.”
This agenda includes a vision to revise Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, establish a cooling-off period requiring former employees of the FBI, CIA, and other government agencies to wait seven years before joining tech companies that have “vast quantities of U.S. user data,” and establishing a “digital bill of rights,” among several other actions.
In another plan that he put forth, Trump pledged to “wage war” on drug cartels in a fashion similar to how he fought the Islamic State (ISIS) during his presidency, while he has also pledged to “end the Washington cartel.”
Trump released his latest video on Wednesday and laid out a vision to prevent China from continuing to buy up the “crown jewels” of the American economy, as Breitbart News reported:
Trump emphasized that the United States needs “to enact aggressive new restrictions on Chinese ownership of any vital infrastructure in the United States, including energy, technology, telecommunications, farmland, natural resources, medical supplies, and other strategic national assets.”
The 45th president laid out a vision to stop such companies from making future purchases of critical infrastructure and force companies to divest “any current holdings that put our national security at risk.”
“If we don’t do this, the United States will be owned by China, which would make them very happy,” said Trump. “When I’m president, I will ensure that America’s future remains firmly in American hands, just as I did when I was president before.”
The current poll, which sampled 1,500 U.S. adult citizens nationally from January 14-17, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. December’s survey included 1,500 U.S. adult citizen respondents and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.