President Donald Trump’s second term has only just begun, and members of his Cabinet are still being confirmed. That doesn’t mean Americans don’t already have opinions.
Plenty of news articles have been written about those nominated to lead federal departments and agencies, but do those headlines reflect what Americans feel? Gallup recently polled 1,000 American adults for their thoughts. Here are the hard numbers.
Tulsi Gabbard
Appointment: Director of National Intelligence
Confirmation date: Pending as of Feb. 10 (final vote expected Feb. 11)
Gallup poll respondents’ opinions of this person:
- Favorable: 28%
- Unfavorable: 27%
- No opinion: 46%
Tulsi Gabbard was 21 years old when she won a seat in Hawaii’s House of Representatives as a Democrat, making her the youngest person ever elected to the state’s legislature.
The U.S. invaded Iraq the next year, and she swiftly joined the Hawaii Army National Guard. She went on to represent Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021. She ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019 but ended up dropping out and endorsing Joe Biden.
Gabbard subsequently left the Democratic Party, however. She officially joined the Republican Party — and endorsed Trump for president — in 2024.
Despite her military service, Gabbard’s nomination faces some opposition, and not just because of her switching parties. She’s been accused of pro-Russian sympathies and was criticized for holding an unauthorized meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been accused of war crimes.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Appointment: Secretary of Health and Human Services
Confirmation date: Pending
Gallup poll respondents’ opinions of this person:
- Favorable: 46%
- Unfavorable: 38%
- No opinion: 15%
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also referred to as RFK Jr., graduated with a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1981 and quickly got into politics, working as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan.
Kennedy Jr. also worked as an environmental lawyer with the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association, now known as Riverkeeper. In 1997, he was a significant player in the negotiation of the New York City Watershed Memorandum of Agreement. The agreement essentially protects New York City’s drinking water and is considered one of Riverkeeper’s biggest accomplishments.
Kennedy Jr. is a controversial figure to some. The nephew of former President John F. Kennedy was criticized, including by his family, for leaving the Democratic Party in 2023. He then ran for president as an independent candidate until dropping out and endorsing Trump. Kennedy Jr. has also been accused of spreading conspiracy theories and criticized for his vaccine skepticism.
Pete Hegseth
Appointment: Secretary of Defense
Confirmation date: Jan. 24
Gallup poll respondents’ opinions of this person:
- Favorable: 22%
- Unfavorable: 29%
- No opinion: 49%
Pete Hegseth is a TV personality known for cohosting “Fox & Friends Weekend” from 2017 to 2024. He graduated from Princeton University and the school’s Army ROTC program in 2003.
Hegseth then joined the Minnesota National Guard and later joined the Army National Guard, where he rose to the rank of major. He was deployed three times, serving at Guantanamo Bay, in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
He ran as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in 2012 but dropped out before the primary and subsequently joined Fox as a contributor.
While at Princeton, Hegseth served as publisher of the school’s conservative journal, The Princeton Tory. Writing in 2002, he said that “talk of ‘diversity’ has diverted Princeton from its original academic focus.” Later that year, he wrote, “the homosexual lifestyle is abnormal and immoral.”
More recently, he’s been critical of military personnel, accusing leaders of being “woke.” He has also supported pardons for soldiers convicted of war crimes.
Marco Rubio
Appointment: Secretary of State
Confirmation date: Jan. 20
Gallup poll respondents’ opinions of this person:
- Favorable: 41%
- Unfavorable: 33%
- No opinion: 26%
Marco Rubio is a second-generation immigrant whose parents came to America from Cuba in 1956. He graduated from the University of Florida and earned a law degree from the University of Miami in 1996.
During law school, Rubio interned for Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the first Hispanic woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He served on the West Miami City Commission after graduating from law school, then was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in a special election in 1999 and served there until 2008.
Rubio began serving in the U.S. Senate in 2011 and has opposed gun control, same-sex marriage and climate-change legislation. He campaigned for the presidency in 2016 but dropped out after losing the Florida primary.
Elon Musk
Appointment: Special government employee
Confirmation date: NA — Elon Musk’s governmental role is not a Cabinet position, nor is it an elected one, and therefore doesn’t require confirmation.
Gallup poll respondents’ opinions of this person:
- Favorable: 43%
- Unfavorable: 47%
- No opinion: 10%
Elon Musk was born in South Africa to a Canadian mother and South African father. At 12 years old, he created and sold a video game. Musk graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992, earning bachelor’s degrees in physics and economics.
Musk founded Zip2, a company specializing in maps and business directories, which was later sold. He also co-founded the business that would eventually be renamed PayPal, which sold for $1.5 billion in 2002.
The same year, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) due to his belief that humans must become a multi-planet species and that rockets were too expensive.
He became a major early funder of Tesla in 2004 and subsequently took over the company as CEO. And Musk bought Twitter (now X) in 2022 after criticizing the social media company’s free speech principles.
He kept an active presence during Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, making appearances at campaign rallies. Musk also set up a giveaway through his political action committee, America PAC, in which he paid $1 million per day through Election Day to one voter in a key swing state. This prompted lawsuits alleging this meant Musk was paying people to vote, which is illegal in the U.S.
He’s now leading the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new initiative under the Trump administration.
Many people find Musk to be controversial.
For instance, his posts on X have been said to promote anti-transgender talking points. His social media posts also tend to push conspiracies. Recent examples include his allegations that federal workers weren’t helping hurricane victims and claims against USAID, which was investigating Musk’s Starlink use in Ukraine.
Add a Comment