First poll results on Hegseth, Gabbard, and key Trump Cabinet picks
FILE-Pete Hegseth leaves Vice President-elect, Sen. JD Vance's (R-OH) office following a series of meetings with senators in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on November 21, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty
A recent poll shows that Americans are skeptical about President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks for his incoming administration.
According to a poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only a few Americans approve of Pete Hegseth, Trump's choice to lead the Department of Defense, or Tulsi Gabbard, his pick for intelligence chief, but a large group of respondents are not familiar with who they are.
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Trump’s other cabinet picks included in the poll are Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health secretary and Marco Rubio for secretary of state, are more well-known but not much more popular among Americans overall.
Researchers polled 1,251 on Dec. 5-9, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is created to be representative of the U.S. population.
Roughly 2 in 10 Americans approve of Pete Hegseth
Approximately 2 in 10 U.S. adults approve of Pete Hegseth, an Army veteran, and former FOX News commentator, being picked for Trump's Cabinet, while 36% disapprove and about 1 in 10 don't know enough to have an opinion.
However, 4 in 10 people don't know enough about Hegseth to give an opinion about him. But his selection as head of the Department of Defense is viewed more negatively by people who know about him.
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Hegseth is facing allegations of excessive drinking, and they made a settlement payment after being accused of a sexual assault that Hegseth denies, the Associated Press reported.
The poll shows that most Republicans do not have an opinion of Hegseth, with 4 in 10 saying they don’t know enough about him.
Meanwhile, one-third of Republicans approve of Hegseth as a pick, and 16% disapprove. Another 1 in 10 Republicans are neutral and share that they neither approve nor disapprove.
Approval of Tulsi Gabbard is also low among Americans
About 2 in 10 Americans approve of Trump's pick of Tulsi Gabbard, while 3 in 10 disapprove. The rest either do not know enough to say — about 4 in 10 said this — or have a neutral view.
Gabbard’s approval rating is somewhat higher among Republicans than Hegseth's, with roughly 4 in 10 Republicans approving of the choice, while very few disapprove and 16% have a neutral view. But about 4 in 10 Republicans don't know enough to form an opinion.
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Tulsi Gabbard represented Hawaii in the House for four terms as a Democrat and sought the 2020 presidential nomination before leaving her party.
The AP reported that Gabbard was one of Trump's most sought-after representatives in the 2024 presidential campaign. Gabbard has faced new questions about her closeness to Syria amid the sudden end of Syrian President Bashar Assad's long hold on power.
Poll shows Robert F. Kennedy is more known – and less well-liked
Approximately 14% of Americans say they don't know enough to have an opinion about Trump's selection of Robert F. Kennedy, but 4 in 10 Americans disapprove of Trump's pick, while roughly 3 in 10 approve and 14% are neutral.
Moreover, 6 in 10 Republicans approve of Kennedy, while only about 1 in 10 disapprove. About 2 in 10 are neutral, and about 1 in 10 don’t know enough about him to have an opinion.
Americans are split on Marco Rubio
Americans are split on Marco Rubio being chosen as Trump’s secretary of state. The poll shows that 3 in 10 Americans approve, and a similar amount disapprove, while about 2 in 10 people don't know enough to say and 15% neither approve nor disapprove.
Almost 6 in 10 Republicans approve, making his selection nearly as popular with this group as Kennedy's. Only about 1 in 10 Republicans disapprove, while 14% are neutral and about 2 in 10 don't know enough to say.
According to the AP, Rubio, who is Cuban American, has a higher approval among Hispanic Americans than some of Trump’s other cabinet choices, but more still disapprove than approve of Rubio.