What Americans think about Hegseth, Gabbard and key Trump Cabinet picks AP-NORC poll

By LINLEY SANDERS and MEG KINNARD, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — As several of President-elect Donald Trump’s choices for high-level positions in his incoming administration face scrutiny on Capitol Hill, a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that Americans have their own doubts.

Relatively few Americans overall approve of Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Defense, or Tulsi Gabbard, his pick for intelligence chief, although a substantial share doesn’t know who those figures are. The other selections who were included in the poll, 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.

Trump and his allies are pushing Republican senators to confirm his picks, who are meeting with lawmakers before Trump returns to the White House next month. Given the Republicans’ slim majority in the Senate, the stakes are high for each Trump pick.

Only about 2 in 10 Americans approve of Hegseth’s nomination

An Army veteran and former Fox News commentator, Hegseth has been trying to make his case amid allegations of excessive drinking and the revelation that he made a settlement payment after being accused of a sexual assault that he denies. Trump has reiterated his support for Hegseth, who appears to have won over some of the senators who were once critical of his selection.

Hegseth is still an unknown quantity for many Americans. About 4 in 10 don’t know enough about him to give an opinion, according to the poll. But his selection is viewed more negatively than positively among Americans who do know who he is. About 2 in 10 U.S. adults approve of Hegseth being picked for Trump’s Cabinet, while 36% disapprove and about 1 in 10 don’t know enough to have an opinion.

He has higher support among Republicans, but it’s not overwhelming. Many Republicans do not have an opinion of Hegseth: About 4 in 10 say they don’t know enough about him. About one-third of Republicans approve of him as a pick, and 16% disapprove. Another 1 in 10 Republicans, roughly, are neutral and say they neither approve nor disapprove.

Those approval numbers among Republicans are at least slightly lower for Hegseth than any of the other names included in the poll.

Approval of Gabbard’s nomination is also low

Gabbard, who represented Hawaii in the House for four terms as a Democrat, sought the 2020 presidential nomination before leaving her party. She was one of Trump’s most sought-after surrogates in the 2024 campaign. Gabbard has faced new questions about her proximity to Syria amid the sudden end of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s long hold on power.

Gabbard is as unknown as Hegseth is, but Americans are a little less likely to disapprove of her nomination. About 2 in 10 Americans approve of Trump’s pick of Gabbard, while about 3 in 10 disapprove. The rest either do not know enough to say — about 4 in 10 said this — or have a neutral view.

Approval is slightly higher among Republicans than Hegseth’s, though. About 4 in 10 Republicans approve of the choice, while very few disapprove and 16% have a neutral view. Similar to Americans overall, about 4 in 10 Republicans don’t know enough to say.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is better known — and less well-liked

A scion of a famous Democratic dynasty, Kennedy made a name in his own right as an environmental attorney who successfully took on large corporations. In recent decades, he has increasingly devoted his energy to promoting claims about vaccines that contradict the overwhelming consensus of scientists. Trump has said he would give Kennedy free rein over health policy — from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.

Only 14% of Americans say they don’t know enough to have an opinion about Trump’s move to name Kennedy, but that greater name recognition doesn’t translate into warmer feelings. About 4 in 10 Americans disapprove of Trump’s selection of Kennedy, while about 3 in 10 approve and 14% are neutral.

Once a contender for the Democratic presidential primary, Kennedy has become something of a GOP darling, with a strong majority of Republicans approving of him joining the Trump administration. About 6 in 10 Republicans approve, and only about 1 in 10 disapprove. About 2 in 10 are neutral, and about 1 in 10 don’t know enough about him to say.

Americans split on Marco Rubio

In his third Senate term from Florida, Rubio has gone from a Trump rival for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination to one of his staunchest congressional allies. Rubio is seen as having the incoming president’s ear on foreign policy issues, particularly related to Latin America.

Americans are divided about Rubio being elevated to a key Cabinet role: About 3 in 10 approve, and a similar share disapprove, while about 2 in 10 don’t know enough to say and 15% neither approve nor disapprove.

Most Republicans, nearly 6 in 10, 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.

Rubio, who is Cuban American, earns higher approval among Hispanic adults than some of Trump’s other high-profile choices, but more still disapprove than approve.

The poll of 1,251 adults was conducted Dec. 5-9, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina.