Early 2026, Majority of Americans Doubt Trump's Qualities

The Pew Research Center surveyed the level of public confidence in the United States (US) regarding the qualities a president should possess, particularly towards President Donald Trump.

In the survey conducted in January 2026, the majority of the public, or more than 50%, actually rated all of these quality indicators as not being possessed by Trump.

These indicators include leadership ability, mental fitness, physical health, choosing good advisors, respecting democratic values, and acting ethically in office. Ethical behavior at work became the indicator least trusted by the public.

"Americans expressed the lowest level of confidence in Trump in terms of acting ethically in his office. Only 21% were very or somewhat confident that he did so, while 60% stated they were not very or not at all confident," wrote researchers on January 29, 2026.

Here are the details of the Pew Research Center survey results on US respondents' confidence in the presidential qualities possessed by Donald Trump:

Having leadership skills to perform the duties of the office

• Very confident: 34%
• Somewhat confident: 14%
• Not very/not at all: 51%

Having mental fitness to perform the duties of the office

• Very confident: 32%
• Somewhat confident: 16%
• Not very/not at all: 52%

Having physical fitness to perform the duties of the office

• Very confident: 28%
• Somewhat confident: 22%
• Not very/not at all: 50%

Choosing good advisors

• Very confident: 25%
• Somewhat confident: 18%
• Not very/not at all: 57%

Respecting the democratic values of the country

• Very confident: 25%
• Somewhat confident: 15%
• Not very/not at all: 59%

Acting ethically in office

• Very confident: 21%
• Somewhat confident: 18%
• Not very/not at all: 60%

The survey data came from Wave 185 of the American Trends Panel (ATP), a nationally representative panel of randomly selected US adults. The survey was conducted from January 20-26, 2026.

A total of 8,512 panelists responded out of 9,302 who were sampled, with a survey response rate of 92%. The sampling error margin for 8,512 respondents is plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.

(Read: Trump's Approval Trend Slides Following the U.S.-Iran War)