Majority of Americans say they are happy with Trump’s transition despite controversies around cabinet picks
A majority of Americans are satisfied with Donald Trump’s election victory and approve of the transition process into his new administration, according to a CBS/YouGov poll released on Monday.
According to the poll, 59 percent of respondents approve of the transition process and 55 percent are happy or satisfied with Trump’s victory.
That support, however, is highly fractured on partisan lines, with 95 percent of Republicans optimistic or excited about Trump compared with just 15 percent of Democrats.
A similar pattern appears regarding support for the Trump administration’s top nominees, whose confirmation process has been marked with an unusual level of controversy.
Forty-four percent of people said Marco Rubio, tapped for Secretary of State, was a good choice, compared with 75 percent of Trump supporters. Health and Human Services nominee RFK saw similar margins, with 47 percent general approval and 80 percent support among Trump fans.
Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, meanwhile, saw slightly less support, garnering just a third of respondents overall who approved of the choice, with 64 percent approval from Trump supporters.
The transition in the Trump administration has been unusual in a number of ways, including nominees without formal government experience and with serious accusations of misconduct being put into consideration for high-level positions.
Last week, attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration amid the potential release of a House ethics probe into sexual misconduct allegations, which he denies are true.
Military veteran and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, tapped to lead the Defense Department, meanwhile, was accused of sexual assault over a 2017 incident in California. Hegseth has denied wrongdoing, said the encounter was consensual, and did not face any criminal charges.
Other nominees, like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., have proved more controversial because of their views.
Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic without a medical background, has been nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, alarming doctors and public health experts.
Others have raised questions about efforts like the administration-aligned Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a technically non-governmental effort led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to identify massive potential cuts in the federal budget.
Musk, the richest person in the world, through his companies like SpaceX, does billions of dollars of business with the federal government, and has considerable business interests at stake in matters of federal regulation and enforcement, making his position at the DOGE is an unprecedented one.
