Nearly three-quarters of Republican voters in South Dakota approve of President Donald Trump’s leadership in the first 100 days of his second White House stint, but there are pockets of discontent with some of his policies, according to a poll co-sponsored by South Dakota News Watch.
The survey of 500 registered GOP voters showed that 73% approve of Trump’s presidential leadership so far in 2025, while 25% disapprove. The statewide survey was also co-sponsored by the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota.
When asked if they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Trump, a question about general political popularity, 68% of Republican voters said favorable, a rating higher than any South Dakota politician.
"He said what he wanted to get done and he's setting out to do it," said Lee McInroy, 84, of Dell Rapids, a Trump supporter who attended Republican Jon Hansen's campaign kickoff event for governor on April 24 in Sioux Falls.
"People voted for Trump to get in the White House and do these things (immigration crackdown and tariffs), and now he's doing them and the other party is going after him for it."
Trump's popularity is strongest in South Dakota's rural areas, matching a national trend.
Of the state’s two highest population centers, Republican voters in the Sioux Falls metro area responded with 64% approval, while West River (Rapid City) was at 62%, both below the national average for Trump’s favorability among Republicans.
Fewer than half of voters support DOGE
Mason-Dixon Polling and Strategy conducted the poll April 9-11, using random selections from a telephone-matched state voter registration list that included both landline and cellphone numbers.
The poll also included a survey of South Dakota registered voters regardless of party, with a breakdown of 255 Republicans, 126 Independents and 119 Democrats.
Those voters showed mixed support for Trump administration policies, including fewer than half (49%) who approve of the efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut federal spending under the direction of billionaire Elon Musk.
The poll showed that 48% of overall South Dakota voters disapprove of the efforts, which have led to cuts in programs involving the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, tribal initiatives, nonprofit organizations and other agencies.
There’s a stark party breakdown, with 70% of Republican voters supporting the DOGE spending cuts, as opposed to 45% of registered Independents and 7% of Democrats.
The poll showed that men (54%) are more supportive than women (44%), which Michael Card, emeritus professor of political science at the University of South Dakota, said could be attributable to DOGE’s potential impact on schools and public health.
Musk said recently that he’ll be spending less time in Washington slashing government costs and more time running Tesla after his electric vehicle company reported a big drop in profits.
South Dakotans lukewarm on Trump's tariffs
Trump carried South Dakota with 63% of the vote in the 2024 election, consistent with his 62% showings in 2016 and 2020.
But one of the president’s signature policies, tariffs, is less popular in a state whose reliance on agricultural trade makes it more susceptible to the risks of trade wars with China, Canada and Mexico.
The News Watch poll showed that 50% of South Dakota voters support Trump’s tariff policies, compared to 47% who disapprove.
The party breakdown of support was 73% Republican, 45% Independent and 6% Democrat.
Trump has imposed hundreds of billions of dollars a year in new import taxes — some of them partially suspended — while launching a trade war against China and pledging to wrap up deals with other countries that are temporarily facing tariffs of 10%. Financial markets are swinging with every twist and turn from Trump’s tariff pronouncements.
"There's a balance between wanting to negotiate strong trade agreements and asking those countries to come to the table to negotiate in good faith while they're being slapped with tariffs,” DaNita Murray, executive director of South Dakota Corn, told News Watch.
Card said much of the unease in South Dakota likely stems from Trump’s first term, when China retaliated with a 25% tariff that greatly reduced farm exports to that country.
“If you're in corn, soybeans and hogs, it's very clear because you have a memory from less than a decade ago of what happened to your market,” said Card. “And even though it's a subsidized industry, those protections are going to be gone unless they get bailed out again, and it’s not clear that’s going to happen this time around.”
Republicans: Election integrity is restored
When it comes to confidence in elections, Trump’s victory over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in 2024 appears to have changed some perspectives.
The News Watch poll showed that 82% of South Dakota voters were confident in the accuracy of the 2024 election vote count, including 55% who said they were very confident.
Of Republicans polled, 59% said they were very confident, compared to 56% of Independents and 46% of Democrats.
It’s a sharp contrast from a November 2023 poll co-sponsored by News Watch and the Chiesman Center, which showed 56% of South Dakotans confident in the accuracy of American elections, including 20% who said they were very confident.
Just 7% of Republicans in that poll said they were very confident, and nearly half (49%) said they did not accept the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, when Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
“There’s plenty of recent experience to show that the losing party is sort of inoculated to believe that the elections aren't fair, and vice versa,” said Card.
As for general outlook of the country, 68% of overall poll respondents said they were optimistic in the future of the United States, including 22% who were very optimistic.
Nearly 9 in 10 Republicans (89%) said they were optimistic, compared to 60% of Independents and 33% of Democrats.
The positivity extended to “very optimistic” for 34% of Republicans, 17% of Independents and just 2% of Democrats.
The Associated Press contributed to this story, which was produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit organization. Read more stories and donate at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email every few days to get stories as soon as they're published. Contact Stu Whitney at stu.whitney@sdnewswatch.org.
