NEW YORK: Most Americans think Donald Trump is profiting off the presidency in unethical or illegal ways and is focused more on his wealth than helping people like them, a new AP-NORC poll finds.
As Trump's family business pulls in record money from new ventures helped by his policies, the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that when it comes to allegations that Trump is profiting from the presidency, about 6 in 10 U.S. adults believe he is either illegally profiting or doing something unethical but not illegal. Only about 2 in 10 think the Republican president is doing nothing wrong, while a similar share say they don't know enough to say.
At the same time, just over half of Americans say Trump has prioritized his personal financial interests "a lot" since returning to the White House, while only about one-quarter say he puts the same emphasis on the country as a whole. Few U.S. adults, about 1 in 10, say he's focused "a lot" on people like them.
"His wealth increases," said Barbara Thaxton, 87, an independent from Summerfield, Florida, "but the people in the country are just barely getting by."
Trump derided the issue of conflicts of interest at the start of his second term, telling The New York Times that "I found out that nobody cared." Unlike in his first term, he's lifted a self-imposed ban on his family striking private-sector deals overseas and started several new crypto businesses.
The poll results suggest that most U.S. adults think growing his personal fortune has been a focus for Trump in his second term, at least to some extent. Only about one-quarter of U.S. adults say he's prioritizing his personal business interests "only a little" or "not at all," including less than half of Republicans.
The White House says Trump is not profiting, but most Americans see red flags
The White House has repeatedly dismissed accusations that Trump and his family business are benefiting financially from his office as a fake problem, stating categorically that he has zero conflicts and acts only in the interest of the country.
In a required federal disclosure of his financial holdings that Trump filed in June, he reported taking in more than $1 billion from new crypto businesses after he loosened regulation on the industry.
One of his biggest crypto ventures got a half-billion-dollar investment after he was elected from a United Arab Emirates business tied to the royal family. It also got help from a cryptocurrency company founded by a Chinese billionaire in trouble with the law in the U.S.
On the real estate side of the business, the Trump Organization has struck eight foreign deals in the first year of his presidency, including many in authoritarian or one-party states with influence over private business and eager to keep Trump happy, U.S. tariffs low or the U.S. military protecting it - or all three.
Overall, about 4 in 10 U.S. adults say Trump is doing something illegal, while about 2 in 10 think he's doing something unethical but not illegal. Democrats are especially likely to believe he has broken the law, with about 8 in 10 saying that.
Oscar Delgado, a 50-year-old Democrat who voted for Trump in 2024 because he thought he could improve things, now accuses Trump of "turning greedy."
"He's not putting the country first," said Delgado, who lives in Lansing, Michigan, and works in a Ford metal stamping factory. "I wanted a change, but I didn't expect this change."
Republicans are less convinced Trump is doing something wrong
Independents and Republicans are much less convinced than Democrats that Trump is breaking the law. Only about 3 in 10 independents and about 1 in 10 Republicans say he's doing something illegal. About 2 in 10 independents and a similar share of Republicans think his behavior is unethical but not illegal.
Most Republicans think he is doing nothing wrong or say they don't know enough to judge.
"His family has probably benefited, but I don't think he has," said Republican Audra Pelsue, 52, dismissing Trump critics as too angry to see straight. "It's Trump derangement syndrome."
Pelsue, a manager at a laundry machine maker from Syracuse, New York, sees a double standard among Trump critics, pointing to what she says was insufficient outrage over President Joe Biden's son.
"Look at Hunter Biden!" she said, referring to his position as director at Ukrainian energy company Burisma when his father, a Democrat, was vice president. "It was OK for Biden kids to benefit, but it's not OK for Trump's?"
Most Americans think Trump puts his financial interests ahead of the country's
Even if they don't think his behavior is illegal, Americans are much likelier to say Trump is prioritizing his personal business interests, compared with the country overall or people like themselves.
Just over half, 56%, of U.S. adults say Trump has put "a lot" of emphasis on his personal businesses since taking office again, while a similar share, 54%, say this about the business interests of his friends and family.
In contrast, only about one-quarter of Americans say he's prioritized the country as a whole "a lot" since returning to the White House, and even fewer, about 1 in 10, say he's focused "a lot" on people like them.
Republicans are likelier to think Trump has prioritized the country, with about half saying he's put "a lot" of emphasis on this since taking office, while about one-quarter say he's given that amount of focus to his personal business interests. But only about one-quarter of Republicans say he's emphasized people like them "a lot."
John Bartus, of Twin Falls, Idaho, notes that Trump has agreed to donate his salary, which comes to $400,000 a year.
"It seems like his business interests are a part of his life, but it doesn't seem like he lets that interfere with what's going on in the country," he said. "He puts it on the back burner."
But Lisa Fernandez, a Democrat from Edinburg, Texas, said Trump is using the power of the presidency but not in ways to help others.
"He's exploiting it for his own needs and his family and making a profit off the people who he is supposed to be serving," said Fernandez, 57, a retired math teacher. "His whole reason for being is to enrich himself and take what he can take without consequences."
Thomson-DeVeaux reported from Washington.
The AP-NORC poll of 2,140 adults was conducted Sept. 24-28 using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.