WASHINGTON (AP) — As several of President-elect Donald Trump’s choices for senior positions in his modern administration come under scrutiny on Capitol Hill, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll shows Americans have their own doubts.
Overall, relatively few Americans support Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice to head the Defense Department, or Tulsi Gabbard, his pick for intelligence chief, although a significant portion do not know who these figures are. The other candidates included in the poll, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health secretary and Marco Rubio for secretary of state, are better known but not much more popular with Americans overall.
Trump and his allies are urging Republican senators to certify his election, who are meeting with lawmakers before Trump returns to the White House next month. Given the narrow majority of Republicans in the Senate, there is a lot at stake in any election for Trump.
Only about two in 10 Americans support Hegseth’s nomination
Hegseth, an Army veteran and former Fox News commentator, has sought to make his case against a backdrop of allegations of excessive drinking and revelations that he paid compensation after being accused of sexual assault, which he denies . Trump has reiterated his support for Hegseth, who appears to have won over some of the senators who were once critical of his choice.
Hegseth is still an unknown quantity for many Americans. According to the survey, about four in 10 respondents don’t know enough about him to give an opinion. But his selection is viewed more negatively than positively by Americans who know who he is. About 2 in 10 U.S. adults support choosing Hegseth for Trump’s Cabinet, while 36% disapprove and about 1 in 10 don’t know enough to have an opinion.
He enjoys greater support among Republicans, but it is not overwhelming. Many Republicans don’t have an opinion about Hegseth: About four in 10 say they don’t know enough about him. About a third of Republicans support him as a candidate, while 16% oppose him. Another tenth of Republicans are roughly neutral, saying they neither agree nor disagree.
These approval ratings among Republicans are at least slightly lower for Hegseth than for all of the other names included in the survey.
Approval of Gabbard’s nomination is also low
Gabbard, who represented Hawaii as a Democrat in the House for four terms, sought the 2020 presidential nomination before leaving her party. She was one of Trump’s most sought-after surrogates in the 2024 election campaign. Given the sudden end to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s long hold on power, Gabbard is facing modern questions about her proximity to Syria.
Gabbard is as unknown as Hegseth, but Americans are slightly less likely to disapprove of her nomination. About 2 in 10 Americans approve of Trump’s choice of Gabbard, while about 3 in 10 disapprove. The rest either don’t know enough to say anything – about 4 in 10 said this – or have a neutral opinion.
However, approval among Republicans is slightly higher than that of Hegseth. About four in 10 Republicans support the choice, while very few oppose it and 16% have a neutral opinion. Similar to Americans as a whole, about four in 10 Republicans don’t know enough to say.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is better known – and less popular
The scion of a eminent Democratic dynasty, Kennedy made a name for himself as an environmental lawyer who successfully took over gigantic companies. In recent decades, he has increasingly devoted his energy to pushing claims about vaccines that contradict the overwhelming consensus of scientists. Trump has said he will give Kennedy a free hand on health policy – from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.
Just 14% of Americans say they don’t know enough to express an opinion about Trump’s push to name Kennedy, but that greater exposure doesn’t lead to warmer feelings. About 4 in 10 Americans disapprove of Trump’s selection of Kennedy, while about 3 in 10 approve and 14% are neutral.
Once a candidate in the Democratic presidential primary, Kennedy has become something of a Republican darling, with a gigantic majority of Republicans supporting his joining the Trump administration. About 6 in 10 Republicans agree and only about 1 in 10 disapprove. About 2 in 10 are neutral and about 1 in 10 don’t know enough about him to say.
Americans are divided over Marco Rubio
In his third term in the Florida Senate, Rubio has evolved from a Trump rival for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination to one of his staunchest allies in Congress. Rubio is seen as the one who has the modern president’s ear on foreign policy issues, particularly regarding Latin America.
Americans are divided on naming Rubio to a key Cabinet role: About 3 in 10 approve, a similar share oppose, while about 2 in 10 don’t know enough to say anything and 15% neither agree still reject.
Most Republicans, nearly 6 in 10, agree, making his choice almost as popular among that group as Kennedy’s. Only about one in 10 Republicans oppose it, while 14% are neutral and about two in 10 don’t know enough to say anything.
Rubio, a Cuban American, draws more approval from Hispanic adults than some of Trump’s other high-profile figures, but still dislikes him more than he approves.
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The survey of 1,251 adults was conducted December 5-9, 2024. A sample was used from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is intended to be representative of the US population. The overall sampling error rate for adults is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
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Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina.
