Harvard-Harris Poll: Trump Most Popular Politician in America

Americans hold nearly unanimously unfavorable views of political leaders, but former President Donald Trump stands as the most popular of all politicians in the latest Harvard-Harris poll.

Trump, behind his America First and Make America Great Again movement he calls the most powerful in U.S. political history, stands 2 points ahead as the most popular above No. 2, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; 3 points above former Vice President Mike Pence; and 4 points above President Joe Biden.

Trump hailed his standing in recent posts on Truth Social and from his Save America PAC.

Russia's Vladimir Putin was far and away the least favorable politician in the poll, registering a 63% very unfavorable rating and 12% unfavorable for a net of 75% against him. Just 9% view him very favorably.

There were just two American politicians with a net-positive favorability rating and both are popular Republicans: Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis (Plus-6: 34% favorable, 28% unfavorable) and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. (Plus-3: 23% favorable, 20% unfavorable).

But Trump's popularity soars above all on favorability. Trump has the highest "very" favorable rating (26%). He is 42% favorable when you include the 16% who responded he was "favorable."

DeSantis trailed Trump by 7 points in the "very" favorable category and had 19% favorable, but his favorable total was 34 point. That was good for a seventh-place tie with Hillary Clinton, which is 8 points less than the leading Trump.

The top 10 most popular politicians, according to the poll:

1. Trump 42%

2. Sanders 40%

3. Pence 39%

4. Biden 38%

5. VP Kamala Harris 37%

6. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, 35%

7. DeSantis and Hillary Clinton tied at 34%

9. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., 29%

10. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tied at 27%

The Harvard Center for American Political Studies, The Harris Poll and HarrisX conducted the poll June 28-29 among 1,308 registered voters. No margin of error was provided in the poll results, in the analysis, or The Hill report on the results.

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