FILE-President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn as he departs the White House on Oct. 12, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)
Most Americans believe President Donald Trump is profiting while in the White House in unethical or illegal ways, concentrating more on his wealth than helping the nation as a whole.
In a new AP-NORC poll, roughly 6 in 10 respondents believe Trump is either illegally profiting or doing something unethical but not illegal, compared to 2 in 10 people who think he is doing nothing wrong, while a similar number say they don't know enough to give an opinion.
RELATED: Trump earned $1.2 billion from crypto business, filings show
Results for the AP-NORC poll consisted of 2,140 adults performed between Sept. 24–28 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel.
Americans believe Trump is focused on personal financial interests
Dig deeper:
A little 50% of Americans state that President Donald Trump has prioritized his personal financial interests "a lot" since returning to office, while only 25% say he puts the same emphasis on the country. Meanwhile, 1 in 10 respondents believe he's focused "a lot" on individuals like them.
According to a poll, another 56% of respondents believe Trump has put "a lot" of emphasis on his personal businesses since returning to the White House for another term, while 54% say this about the business interests of his friends and family.
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The AP-NORC poll results infer that Americans think Trump’s growing personal fortune has been a focus for him in his second term, at least to some extent.
Approximately 25% of respondents say he's prioritizing his personal business interests "only a little" or "not at all," including less than 50% of Republicans.
Overall, roughly 4 in 10 Americans say Trump is doing something illegal, 2 in 10 believe he’s doing something unethical but not illegal.
Political parties weighed in, as Democrats shared in the poll, they are likely to believe Trump has broken the law, with about 8 in 10 stating that view.
However, independents and Republicans are less convinced than Democrats that Trump is breaking the law. Approximately 3 in 10 independents and 1 in 10 Republicans think he's doing something illegal. While 2 in 10 independents and a similar number of Republicans think Trump’s behavior is unethical but not illegal.
Trump profits while in the White House
Big picture view:
In a required federal disclosure of his financial holdings that President Donald Trump filed in June, he reported raking in over $1 billion from new crypto businesses after he eased regulation on the industry.
RELATED: Trump gave White House aides tens of thousands in cash gifts
The AP noted that one of Trump’s biggest crypto ventures received a half-billion-dollar investment after he was elected from a United Arab Emirates business connected to the royal family. It also received help from a cryptocurrency organization founded by a Chinese billionaire in trouble with the law in the U.S.
Additionally, the Trump Organization has made eight foreign deals in the first year of his presidency on the real estate end of the business.
The Source: Informaiton for this story was provided by an Associated Press-NORC poll of 2,140 people, which was conducted between Sept. 24-28 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.