Although Democrats have voiced opposition to many of President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks, the public is not sharing in their derision.
A Morning Consult survey released Tuesday found only one of Trump's Cabinet picks — former Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general — has a lower approval than disapproval rating, the Washington Examiner reported.
The survey of 2,185 registered voters conducted Nov. 15-17 showed the most popular among Trump's appointments were Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as secretary of state and billionaire owner of Tesla and X Elon Musk as co-head for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with 45% approval ratings each. The poll has a margin of error of ±2 percentage points.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as head of the Department of Health and Human Services each had approval ratings of 44%. Vivek Ramaswamy, who will join Musk to lead DOGE, and former Democrat and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence were next with 39% each. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (38%), Pete Hegseth as defense secretary (37%), Kristi Noem as head of the Department of Homeland Security (37%), and Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff for policy (36%) followed.
Although Gaetz and Lee Zeldin as head of the Environmental Protection Agency each had 34% approval ratings, Gaetz was viewed unfavorably by 41% and Zeldin 29%.
What was striking about the poll is that, except for Musk and RFK Jr., more than 20% said they didn't know or had no opinion on Trump's Cabinet picks, including 37% with Zeldin, 34% with Miller, and 33% with Stefanik. As with Zeldin, those figures were higher than the disapproval ratings for Miller and Stefanik (30% and 29%, respectively).
Besides Gaetz, Musk at 40% was the only other pick with a disapproval rating of 40% or higher.
Meanwhile, 54% of voters approved of the way Trump has managed his transition, compared with 38% who disapproved. President Joe Biden's numbers were slightly better than Trump's at the same point four years ago, when 60% approved and 28% disapproved.
"The president-elect is enjoying some initial deference from the American people about the way he's handling his transition and the names he's choosing to fill his government," wrote Eli Yokley, Morning Consult's U.S. politics analyst. "For Republican senators, Trump's standing and the popularity of his nominees with the Republican base they're so focused on leaves little political incentive to defy the incoming president."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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