President Donald Trump is more popular in Missouri than ever even if the policies his new administration pursues aren’t, according to the latest Saint Louis University YouGov poll.
The survey of 900 likely Missouri voters, polled between Feb. 18 and March 2, showed 56% of those polled approve or strongly approve of Trump. The survey also showed 52% somewhat or strongly oppose one of the president’s key objectives, dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education.
“I don’t think it’s surprising that a heavily Republican state is supportive of the president,” said Steven Rogers, director of the study and associate professor of political science at SLU. “But (the approval rate of) 56% is the highest we’ve recorded for any political actor.”
Trump exceeded his approval ratings among Missouri voters from his last term and beat the highest recorded approval rating by 3%. But responses on individual policies – and voters’ knowledge of them – reveal more about voters’ stances.
The poll reported 42% “strongly approved” of Trump’s performance in office. On the Department of Education question, 42% said they were “strongly opposed,” while only 26% answered they strongly supported the idea.
Republicans were much more likely to support the department’s elimination, with 43% strongly supporting the move and 25% answering they “somewhat support” it.
But Republicans were also more likely to incorrectly identify programs run by the Department of Education.
When asked what department administers special education funding, 31% of Republicans incorrectly said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, compared to 22% of Democrats.
Asked which agency provides student aid, 83% of Democrats correctly identified the Department of Education compared to only 68% of Republicans.
Just 55% of Republicans identified the department as administering funds for schools with low-income students, compared to 74% of Democrats.
Ashley Burle, director of graduate admissions in the SLU School of Education, said the questions came after U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stumbled when asked about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act during her confirmation hearing.
The thought process, she said, was to gauge voter knowledge about where some of these programs exist within government.
Other questions where Trump and his core supporters diverge include his proposal to increase the Child Tax Credit to $5,000 from the current $2,000 and whether to ban social media platforms with foreign ownership like TikTok.
Increasing the credit is supported by 54% overall, but among Republicans support drops to 46%. Among Democrats, increasing the credit is supported by 70%.
Trump delayed until April 5 enforcement of a law requiring owner ByteDance to sell TikTok or shut down. Overall, 46% said they support the ban, with Republicans at 62% and Democrats at 30%.
About the survey
SLU conducts the poll twice a year, with questions tracking attitudes on politicians and major issues and in-depth questions on policy trends. The survey has a margin of error of about 3.7% for respondents deemed “likely voters.”
The first surveys were funded by a grant from the St. Louis University Research Institute’s “Big Ideas” competition. The research institute was supercharged by a $50 million donation from Rex Sinquefield, a major donor in Missouri politics and a supporter of school privatization measures.
Pollsters told The Independent that the initial grant from Sinquefield has run out. The poll now receives funding and insight from the SLU PRiME center.
Results are not filtered, Rogers said, so people can view the outcomes of every question.
Political figures
The new poll includes a curious set of figures that indicate public attitudes on the economy, both in Missouri and nationally, have soured in recent months, with the overall numbers masking a political shift in attitudes.
With Trump enjoying high approval ratings, the share of Republicans rating the national economy as “poor” dropped 29 points, to 36%, from the August survey when Democratic President Joe Biden was still in office.
Despite that decline among Republicans, respondents overall gave a strongly negative rating to the economy, with 46% saying the economy is “fair” and 38% saying it was “poor.” For Missouri, 51% said the economy was fair and 26% said poor.
In August, 14% of Democrats rated the national economy as “excellent,” with another 45% rating it as good. In the latest survey, 45% of Democrats rated it as poor, with only 1% saying it was excellent.
“If I am viewing the economy, and let’s just say I’m a Democrat, I will be literally viewing them through blue-colored lenses, in which I may be looking at the same objective information, but then I want to be seeing it a little more favorably if Biden was in charge,” Rogers said. “But now to say Trump is in charge, with these blue-tinted glasses, I think it’s bad.”
Along with Trump, all of Missouri’s major Republican politicians enjoy net-positive approval ratings. New Gov. Mike Kehoe has the largest margin, with 50% saying they strongly approve or approve of his job performance and31% saying they disapprove or strongly disapprove.
U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, who will be up for re-election in 2028, had a 13% net positive rating, and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, who began his second term in January, had a 10% net positive rating. Hawley was the most polarizing figure, with 51% approval and just 9% saying they were unsure, half the number for Kehoe or Schmitt.
Both Congress and the Missouri General Assembly are enjoying a better public perception than just a year ago. The survey found 41% approve of Congress, up from 14% a year ago, and 48% for the legislature, up from 40%, from when the survey was conducted last year.
“We are seeing pretty uniformly that those like Trump and Congress and even the Supreme Court are experiencing their all time highs,” Rogers said. “And this is despite voters, for example, thinking pretty negatively about the economy.”
The survey’s questions on issues, however, show that voters are often at odds with the policies the politicians they back are proposing.
Charter schools
Respondents were more likely to support charter schools than oppose them, but many of those surveyed were unfamiliar with the state’s charter law.
In total, 55% of respondents answered they would support the operation of charter schools in their area and 56% were supportive of charters operating statewide, with Republicans and independents more likely to support.
But more than half, or 53%, answered they were “not sure” whether charters could operate in their area.
Currently, charters can operate in Kansas City, St. Louis and Boone County with any qualified sponsor. But charters can also open where the local school district is unaccredited or provisionally accredited for three consecutive school years. Local school boards statewide may also open a charter school.
Boone County was the newest addition to the state’s charter school law, a priority of former Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, who is from Columbia. The provision was part of a large education package signed into law last spring.
State lawmakers during the current legislative session have filed bills seeking to overturn the provision and put the idea on Boone County residents’ ballots to decide.
“A majority of voters want to have (charters) everywhere in the state,” Rogers said. “But it is also helpful to take a step back and ask voters what they know.”
One question asked whether respondents would identify charter schools as public or private. Of the 900 answers, 58% thought they were private, with 23% identifying charters as public schools and 19% unsure.
Charter schools are considered public because they operate from public funds, but they operate with more independence than a traditional public school.
Student technology usage
Multiple state lawmakers proposed legislation to limit students’ access to cell phones this session, with bills requiring school districts to create cell-phone policies unanimously passing a House committee.
The SLU YouGov poll asked how people felt about prohibiting cell phone usage, unless students are directed to by teachers, for different ages.
“Cell phones and social media are two things specifically within technology that have been noted in recent years that negatively affect your mental health,” Burle said.
A majority of those surveyed were supportive of restrictions with 76% in favor of the policy for elementary students, 75% for middle school and 70% for high school.
Younger respondents were less likely to support the idea, with 57% of those 18-29 in favor of the policy in elementary and middle schools and 79% of those 65 or older in favor.
The survey also asked about school policies that give a device like an iPad or laptop to students for schoolwork. The concept, often referred to as a 1:1 technology initiative, has grown massively in the past decade with the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating its prevalence.
But according to the poll, opinions on student-assigned laptops are split for young learners. In total, 44% support and 43% oppose the idea with 13% unsure of its usage in elementary schools. Black respondents were more likely to favor the technology, with 72% in favor, compared to 40% of white participants.
Opinions grow more positive as the question is applied to secondary education, with 66% in favor of middle school students with devices and 80% in favor of them at the high-school level.
Democrats were also more likely to favor 1:1 initiatives, for 94% answered favorably when it comes to high schools. Of Republican respondents, 74% thought it was a good idea for high schools.
The full poll is available online at slu.edu/poll.
Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.
