Majority of Americans optimistic about Trump agenda, poll finds, despite tariff concern

A majority of Americans say they are optimistic about the polices President-elect Trump will pursue in his incoming administration, according to a new poll from Monmouth University.

"It should come as no surprise there is a stark partisan divide on the Trump agenda. The real question is how these policies will affect American families, especially among those who voted for Trump in 2024," Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement.

The poll also found that Trump's least popular policy is his tariff agenda, with 47% of respondents saying they expect tariffs will hurt their family and just 23% saying they expected it to help. One of Trump's most popular polices is his plan to eliminate income tax for certain wages, with 48% of respondents saying the plan would help their family, compared to just 15% who say it would hurt.

Monmouth conducted the poll from Dec. 5-10, surveying 1,006 U.S. adults via phone interviews and online surveys. The poll advertises a margin of error of 3.9%.

The poll comes as Trump is cruising toward his second inauguration and has begun targeting perceived enemies in the media. Trump on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Des Moines register and pollster Ann Selzer. The lawsuit claims the plaintiffs committed "brazen election interference" and fraud by publishing a final 2024 presidential poll showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading him in Iowa. Trump ultimately won the state by 13 points.

Trump attorneys said Selzer had "prided herself on a mainstream reputation for accuracy despite several far less publicized egregious polling misses in favor of Democrats" and said she "would have the public believe it was merely a coincidence that one of the worst polling misses of her career came just days before the most consequential election in memory, was leaked and happened to go against the Republican candidate."

"The Harris Poll was no 'miss' but rather an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election," the lawsuit states, adding that "defendants and their cohorts in the Democrat Party hoped that the Harris Poll would create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election." 

"Instead, the November 5 election was a monumental victory for President Trump in both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote, an overwhelming mandate for his America First principles, and the consignment of the radical socialist agenda to the dustbin of history." 

The lawsuit notes that Selzer, after more than 35 years in the industry, "retired in disgrace from polling less than two weeks after this embarrassing rout."

Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.