HPU Poll Asks Respondents About the Direction of the Country

HIGH POINT, N.C., Dec. 4, 2025 – The most recent poll by High Point University’s Survey Research Center includes country and state direction ratings as well as job approval ratings for key political figures and institutions.

U.S. respondents gave President Donald J. Trump an overall job approval rating of 35% and a disapproval rating of 56%, and 9% of respondents had no opinion either way. Overall, people across the country gave their governors 37% job approval ratings and 26% disapproval ratings, and 38% expressed no opinion.

North Carolina respondents gave Trump an overall job approval rating of 39% and a disapproval rating of 49%, and 12% indicated no opinion either way. Those same North Carolina respondents gave Gov. Josh Stein a job approval rating of 45%, with 20% expressing disapproval and 35% expressing no opinion.

Thirty-one percent of U.S. residents felt that things in this country are generally going in the right direction, while 33% of North Carolinians felt things are going in the right direction. However, 60% of U.S. resident adults and 57% of North Carolinians felt things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track.

Forty-two percent of U.S. residents said things are going in the right direction in their respective states, while 45% said things are on the wrong track. Regarding their state, 35% of North Carolinians said things were on the right track.

When presented with a list of issues to rate the president on, U.S. residents gave Trump the highest job approval ratings for securing the U.S. southern border (50%), national security in general (44%) and law enforcement (43%). They gave Trump the lowest approval ratings for his handling of climate change (28%), inflation (27%) and artificial intelligence (26%).

North Carolina residents gave the highest job approval ratings to Trump for securing the U.S. southern border (50%), national security in general (50%) and law enforcement (45%). They gave the lowest approval levels for handling of artificial intelligence (30%), LGBTQ policies (28%) and inflation (27%).

The poll asked respondents whether they approved or disapproved of the way the U.S. Congress is handling its job. Among North Carolina respondents, 26% approved, 51% disapproved and 23% were unsure. Among U.S. residents, 22% approved, 59% disapproved and 19% were unsure.

The poll also asked North Carolinians and U.S. residents whether they approved or disapproved of the way the U.S. Supreme Court is handling its job. Thirty-seven percent of North Carolina resident adults approved, 37% disapproved and 26% said they were unsure about the job performance of the U.S. Supreme Court. On the same issue, 35% of U.S. resident adults approved, 42% disapproved and 24% were unsure.

HPU Poll 116 – United States Resident Adults (n = 1004)

United States Residents – Country Direction (November 2025)

Do you think things in this country [are generally going in the right direction or do you

feel things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track]?

Right direction – 31%

Wrong track – 60%

Unsure – 9%

United States Residents – State Direction (November 2025)

Do you think things in your state [are generally going in the right direction or do you feel

things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track]?

Right direction – 42%

Wrong track – 45%

Unsure – 13%

United States Residents – Presidential Approval (November 2025)

Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that Donald Trump is handling his job as president?

Approve – 35%

Disapprove – 56%

Unsure – 9%

United States Residents – Issues Approval (November 2025)

Below is a list of issues that President Trump has to deal with. For each issue, please tell me whether you [approve or disapprove] of President Trump’s handling of each issue. (Respondents were presented with 12 randomized issues from the list.)

United States Residents – Governor Approval (November 2025)

Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that [your governor or Josh Stein] is handling [his or her] job as Governor?

Approve – 37%

Disapprove – 26%

Unsure – 38%

United States Residents – U.S. Supreme Court Approval (November 2025)

Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that the United States Supreme Court is handling its job?

Approve – 35%

Disapprove – 42%

Unsure – 24%

United States Residents – U.S. Congress Approval (November 2025)

Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that the U.S. Congress is handling its job?

Approve – 22%

Disapprove – 59%

Unsure – 19%

HPU Poll 115 – North Carolina Resident Adults (n = 1001)

North Carolina Residents – Country Direction (November 2025)

Do you think things in this country [are generally going in the right direction or do you

feel things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track]?

Right direction – 33%

Wrong track – 57%

Unsure – 11%

North Carolina Residents – State Direction (November 2025)

Do you think things in your state [are generally going in the right direction or do you feel

things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track]?

Right direction – 35%

Wrong track – 45%

Unsure – 20%

North Carolina Residents – Presidential Approval (November 2025)

Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that Donald Trump is handling his job as president?

Approve – 39%

Disapprove – 49%

Unsure – 12%

North Carolina Residents – Issues Approval (November 2025)

Below is a list of issues that President Trump has to deal with. For each issue, please tell me whether you [approve or disapprove] of President Trump’s handling of each issue. (Respondents were presented with 12 randomized issues from the list.)

North Carolina Residents – Gov. Josh Stein Approval (November 2025)

Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that Josh Stein is handling his job as Governor?

Approve – 45%

Disapprove – 20%

Unsure – 35%

North Carolina Residents – U.S. Supreme Court Approval (November 2025)

Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that the United States Supreme Court is handling its job?

Approve – 37%

Disapprove – 37%

Unsure – 26%

North Carolina Residents – U.S. Congress Approval (November 2025)

Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way that the U.S. Congress is handling its job?

Approve – 26%

Disapprove – 51%

Unsure – 23%

Methodology:

HPU Poll 115 was fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center on Nov. 11  through Nov. 17 as an online survey using a panel of respondents recruited and maintained by Dynata.

HPU Poll 116 was also fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center on Nov. 10 through Nov. 14 as an online survey using a panel of respondents recruited and maintained by Dynata.

For both polls, Dynata sent invitations to its panels of respondents (HPU Poll 115 = North Carolina respondents, HPU Poll 116 = U.S. respondents) and the SRC collected the responses on its Qualtrics platform (HPU Poll 115 n = 1001, HPU Poll 116 n = 1004). The SRC did all data analysis. The online samples are from panels of respondents, and their participation does not adhere to usual assumptions associated with random selection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to assign a classic margin of sampling error for the results of HPU Poll 115 and HPU Poll 116. In this case for HPU Poll 115, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points to account for a traditional 95% confidence interval for the estimates (plus or minus 3.1 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.04 (based on the weighting). For HPU Poll 116, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points to account for a traditional 95% confidence interval for the estimates and a design effect of 1.01 (based on the weighting). The data is weighted toward population estimates for age, gender, race, and ethnicity based on U.S. Census numbers for the United States and North Carolina, respectively. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional errors into the findings of opinion polls. Percentages may not add to 100 because of rounding.

Further results and methodological details from the most recent survey and past surveys can be found at the Survey Research Center website. Materials online include past press releases as well as memos summarizing the findings (including approval ratings) for each poll since 2010.

The HPU Poll reports methodological details in accordance with the standards set out by  AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, and the HPU Survey Research Center is a charter member of the initiative.

Dr. Martin Kifer, chair and professor of political science, serves as the director of the HPU Poll.

Dr. J.R. Moller serves as the staff director of the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.