Trump says he cares for Americans. They think he's more focused on his
wealth, an AP-NORC poll finds
[October 14, 2026]
By BERNARD CONDON and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX
NEW YORK (AP) — 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 87-year-old retiree Barbara Thaxton, 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."
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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, a Republican from 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,” said Bartus, a 67-year-old part-time supermarket worker.
“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.
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