‘He’s not putting the country first’: Over half of Americans say Trump prioritized his financial interests ‘a lot’ as president in new poll

Most Americans think Donald Trump is profiting off the presidency in unethical or illegal ways and is focused more on his wealth than helping people like them, a new AP-NORC poll finds.

As Trump’s family business pulls in record money from new ventures helped by his policies, the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that when it comes to allegations that Trump is profiting from the presidency, about 6 in 10 U.S. adults believe he is either illegally profiting or doing something unethical but not illegal.

Only about 2 in 10 think the Republican president is doing nothing wrong, while a similar share say they don’t know enough to say.

At the same time, just over half of Americans say Trump has prioritized his personal financial interests “a lot” since returning to the White House, while only about one-quarter say he puts the same emphasis on the country as a whole.

Few U.S. adults, about 1 in 10, say he’s focused “a lot” on people like them.

“His wealth increases,” said 87-year-old retiree Barbara Thaxton, an independent from Summerfield, Florida, “but the people in the country are just barely getting by.” Trump derided the issue of conflicts of interest at the start of his second term, telling The New York Times that “I found out that nobody cared.” Unlike in his first term, he’s lifted a self-imposed ban on his family striking private-sector deals overseas and started several new crypto businesses.

The poll results suggest that most U.S. adults think growing his personal fortune has been a focus for Trump in his second term, at least to some extent.

Only about one-quarter of U.S. adults say he’s prioritizing his personal business interests “only a little” or “not at all,” including less than half of Republicans.

The White House says Trump is not profiting, but most Americans see red flags The White House has repeatedly dismissed accusations that Trump and his family business are benefiting financially from his office as a fake problem, stating categorically that he has zero conflicts and acts only in the interest of the country.

In a required federal disclosure of his financial holdings that Trump filed in June, he reported taking in more than $1 billion from new crypto businesses after he loosened regulation on the industry.

One of his biggest crypto ventures got a half-billion-dollar investment after he was elected from a United Arab Emirates business tied to the royal family.

It also got help from a cryptocurrency company founded by a Chinese billionaire in trouble with the law in the U.S.