In September 2026, Galvanize Action asked ideologically moderate women questions about voting priorities, election-related concerns, views on the Trump administration’s handling of specific issues, immigration enforcement, transgender policy, government surveillance, attitudes toward socialism, and AI regulation.

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Key Findings

• The economy remains the top voting issue overall (41%) by more than double any other issue.
• President Trump’s overall approval sits at 37% (11% strongly approve, 26% somewhat approve) against 63% disapproval. On nearly every issue presented, approval fell from January to May and then recovered only partially by September. Immigration is the only issue where September approval (43%) now exceeds January’s (40%).
• Moderate white women draw a real distinction between the broad goal of immigration enforcement and specific tactics used to carry it out: 43% approve of Trump’s handling of immigration overall (his best-performing issue), but majorities say he’s gone “too far” by sending federal agents into cities and using traffic stops to find and arrest immigrants.
• On transgender policy, moderate white women favor several restrictions while also favoring protecting trans people from discrimination in jobs and housing.
• Desire for AI regulation is one of the few things that holds across every audience segment: a majority wants either the government or companies acting together to create a set of rules and regulations.

Top Issue

Galvanize Action asked respondents which issue they consider most important when deciding how to vote for an elected official. As is the case every time we ask this question, the economy is the clear top issue overall (41%), followed by preserving democracy (16%) and healthcare (15%). No other issue reaches double digits.

Economy leads for every audience segment, but by a smaller margin among Egalitarians, who are also the only segment to rank preserving democracy as a near-equal priority. Immigration is a notably higher priority for Traditionalists (13%) than for any other segment (2-6%).

Election Concerns

When asked how concerned they are about six potential problems with this year’s elections, respondents were most worried about systemic issues and least worried about personal confrontation. Overall, ideologically moderate white women appear to be more worried about the integrity of the process than about their own personal safety at the polls.

Trump Approval

The majority of moderate white women surveyed say they disapprove of Trump’s overall job performance since his second term began (63% disapprove: 16% somewhat, 47% strongly). However, this approval varies by segment, with the majority of Traditionalists and Pragmatists saying they approve, and the majority of Centrists and Egalitarians saying they disapprove.

Overall:

By Segment:

	Overall	Traditionalists	Pragmatists	Centrists	Egalitarians
Strongly approve	11%	26%	11%	6%	2%
Somewhat approve	26%	36%	44%	25%	7%
Somewhat disapprove	16%	18%	19%	22%	6%
Strongly disapprove	47%	21%	26%	47%	85%

Looking at approval for handling specific issues, the majority of women surveyed express disapproval across all issues. This is especially notable for the economy, which women in this audience say matters most to their vote. Along with foreign affairs, the economy is one of Trump’s weakest issues, with only 33% of the overall sample indicating approval for how he’s handling it.

When comparing responses from different samples of moderate white women collected in January, May, and September, we see that approval dropped between January and May on every issue, then most issues only partially recovered by September. Immigration is the only issue where September approval exceeds January’s, and gun violence is the only other issue to fully recover to its January level. Foreign affairs, the economy, crime, and climate change show the weakest recoveries.

Immigration Enforcement

When asked about specific enforcement actions rather than immigration policy in general, moderate white women are more critical. The majority of respondents say President Trump has gone too far on three out of four actions presented. 

Deportation in general draws the least “gone too far” sentiment and the most “not far enough” sentiment of the four actions presented, while more visible and/or localized tactics draw the most pushback.

Government Surveillance

Women in Galvanize Action’s audience distinguish between private/commercial surveillance (broadly acceptable) and government tracking of personal movement (majority opposed). The privacy-for-safety trade-off question splits close to evenly, which suggests that fear may be a stronger influence than the opposition to government surveillance expressed.

Transgender Policy

The majority of women surveyed expressed support for restrictive policies, such as requiring trans athletes to compete on teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth and making it illegal for healthcare professionals to provide gender affirming healthcare to minors. However, at the same time, support for discrimination protection is comparably high. This suggests that moderate white women do not see “protect from discrimination” and “restrict specific accommodations” as contradictory positions.

By audience segment, opinions are consistent in direction across every item, with more ideologically conservative segments showing higher support for restrictive policies, and the most ideologically liberal segment showing the highest support for protective policies.

AI Regulations

Government regulation and collaborative artificial intelligence industry self-regulation draw essentially identical support, and since this was a select-all-that-apply question, many respondents likely selected both. This suggests the audience isn’t choosing between government and industry oversight, but rather wanting oversight in general.

Support for some form of AI regulation holds across every audience segment; no segment’s support for “no rules” rises above 5%. Egalitarians are most likely to want government regulation specifically and least likely to trust individual companies to self-regulate. Among the two middle segments, Centrists and Pragmatists agree at similar rates that the government should create regulations or that companies should collaboratively create regulations. However, Pragmatists are more likely than Centrists (and any other segment) to support companies self-regulating independently.

Socialism

When asked their opinions on socialism in general, nearly half (44%) of respondents indicated they have an unfavorable view of socialism, while only 30% said their opinion is favorable. Notably, a full quarter (25%) said they don’t know, indicating that a portion of this audience may not feel informed enough about socialism to have an explicit opinion.

Very favorable	5%
Somewhat favorable	25%
Somewhat unfavorable	23%
Very unfavorable	21%
Don’t know	25%

Next, Galvanize Action presented respondents with a list of government programs and asked them to identify each as either “socialism” or “not socialism” (or indicate that they did not know). Most familiar, long-standing government services are seen by a plurality or majority as not socialism: these include national parks, police and fire departments, public libraries, highways, the military, the postal service, minimum wage, unemployment benefits, public schools, Medicare, and social security. 

By contrast, free healthcare for all, free college tuition, and government-run utilities are the three items a plurality labels socialism outright, and rent control (36% socialism vs. 38% not) and government-subsidized housing (39% vs. 35%) are close to a toss-up. Antitrust regulation produced the most uncertainty, with 46% saying “don’t know.”

The label “socialism” seems to track more with how new or sweeping a policy sounds than with government involvement itself. Moderate white women don’t think of Medicare or Medicaid as explicitly “socialism,” but they do think of “free healthcare for all” that way, even though the two are related.

Working Class Identity

Traditionalists describe themselves as the most traditional and the most respectful of authority, and Egalitarians the least traditional by a wide margin. Skepticism of experts is lowest among Centrists, notably lower than both Traditionalists and Pragmatists. We also see that the more ideologically conservative segments agree more strongly with the description “working class.”

GLP-1 Medications

Galvanize Action also asked women in this audience whether they currently take weight loss medications such as semaglutide (brand names Ozempic and Wegovy), liraglutide (brand name Saxenda) or tirzepatide (brand names Mounjaro and Zepbound). We found that the majority of respondents indicated that they are not currently on a GLP-1 medication.

Yes	15%
No	85%

Questionnaire

QUESTION #1 | TOP ISSUE
When you decide how to vote for an elected official, such as for Congress or President, which of the following issues do you consider most important?

	Overall	Traditionalist	Pragmatist	Centrist	Egalitarian
Abortion	2%	3%	2%	0%	4%
Artificial intelligence/Data centers	3%	3%	4%	1%	3%
Climate change	4%	2%	3%	3%	6%
Crime	5%	7%	8%	4%	2%
Economy	41%	42%	45%	45%	34%
Foreign affairs/Focus overseas	1%	1%	1%	2%	1%
Gun violence	3%	3%	2%	3%	3%
Healthcare	15%	14%	16%	20%	10%
Immigration	7%	13%	6%	6%	2%
Preserving democracy	16%	8%	9%	14%	27%
Something else (please specify)	4%	3%	4%	2%	8%
Transgender issues	1%	2%	1%	1%	1%

QUESTION #2 | ELECTION CONCERNS
Looking ahead to this year’s elections for Congress and state offices, how much, if at all, do each of the following concern you?

	Not at all	Only a little	A fair amount	A great deal
Political leaders pressuring election officials to change election outcomes	13%	20%	29%	38%
Ballots not being properly handled, counted or secured	19%	22%	28%	31%
Not having the information you need to make a well-informed decision about candidates or issues	21%	24%	35%	20%
People gathering near polling places in an attempt to intimidate voters or discourage them from voting	21%	24%	27%	28%
Your ballot not being counted	25%	23%	23%	29%
Being personally confronted, followed or recorded while you are voting	36%	23%	18%	22%

QUESTION #3 | TRUMP APPROVAL
Thinking about the time since President Trump began his second term, as a whole, would you say you approve or disapprove of President Trump?

	Overall	Traditionalist	Pragmatist	Centrist	Egalitarian
Strongly approve	11%	26%	11%	6%	2%
Somewhat approve	26%	36%	44%	25%	7%
Somewhat disapprove	16%	18%	19%	22%	6%
Strongly disapprove	47%	21%	26%	47%	85%

QUESTION #4 | TRUMP APPROVAL BY ISSUE
Now, thinking about specific issues since President Trump took office, do you approve or disapprove of the way President Trump is currently handling…

	Strongly disapprove	Somewhat disapprove	Somewhat approve	Strongly approve
Abortion	42%	21%	22%	15%
Artificial intelligence/Data centers	42%	24%	25%	9%
Climate change	40%	24%	25%	11%
Crime	36%	24%	25%	15%
Economy	46%	20%	23%	11%
Foreign affairs/Focus overseas	45%	22%	22%	11%
Gun violence	36%	23%	27%	13%
Healthcare	41%	24%	23%	12%
Immigration	39%	19%	23%	20%
Preserving democracy	44%	18%	24%	14%
Transgender issues	37%	20%	26%	16%

Comparing to previous surveys (different samples):

	“strongly approve” or “somewhat approve”
	January	May	September
Abortion	38%	33%	37%
Climate Change	42%	34%	36%
Crime	46%	36%	41%
Economy	38%	27%	33%
Foreign affairs/Focus overseas	40%	29%	33%
Gun violence	41%	34%	41%
Healthcare	35%	32%	34%
Immigration	40%	37%	43%
Preserving democracy	40%	33%	38%

QUESTION #5 | IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT
When it comes to each of the following, would you say Donald Trump has gone too far, not gone far enough, or been about right?

	Not far enough	About right	Gone too far
Using traffic stops to find and arrest immigrants living in the U.S. illegally	8%	36%	56%
Sending federal immigration agents into U.S. cities	9%	35%	56%
Restricting legal immigration	7%	40%	52%
Deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally	12%	40%	48%

QUESTIONS #6-9 | SURVEILLANCE
In a public place, do you think each of the following should or should not be allowed without your permission?

	Should not be allowed	Should be allowed	Not sure
Being recorded by a store’s camera	15%	75%	10%
Being recorded by a neighbor’s doorbell camera	23%	60%	17%
Having your car’s location recorded by a police camera	56%	29%	15%

License plate cameras photograph each passing vehicle along a road and store its license plate, its location, and the time in a database that law enforcement can search. How much, if anything, had you heard about license plate cameras before this survey?

Nothing at all	17%
A little	55%
A lot	28%

Would license plate cameras in your community make you feel…?

Safer	32%
Neither safer nor less safe	45%
Less safe	16%
Not sure	8%

Would you give up more personal privacy if it resulted in less crime?

Yes	38%
Not sure	29%
No	33%

QUESTION #10 | TRANSGENDER POLICY
Here are some current laws and policies that are either in place or being considered in the U.S. related to transgender issues. Would you favor or oppose laws or policies that do each of the following?

	Oppose / Strongly oppose	Favor / Strongly favor	Neither favor nor oppose
Require that transgender athletes compete on teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with	9%	66%	25%
Make it illegal for health care professionals to provide someone younger than 18 with medical care for a gender transition	18%	64%	19%
Protect transgender individuals from discrimination in jobs, housing, and public spaces such as restaurants and stores	13%	62%	25%
Make it illegal for public school districts to teach about gender identity in elementary schools	24%	53%	23%
Require transgender individuals to use public bathrooms that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with	21%	51%	28%
Require health insurance companies to cover medical care for gender transitions	42%	30%	28%

	“favor” or “strongly favor”
	Traditionalist	Pragmatist	Centrist	Egalitarian
Require that transgender athletes compete on teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with	89%	80%	66%	38%
Make it illegal for health care professionals to provide someone younger than 18 with medical care for a gender transition	81%	76%	61%	42%
Protect transgender individuals from discrimination in jobs, housing, and public spaces such as restaurants and stores	34%	61%	60%	87%
Make it illegal for public school districts to teach about gender identity in elementary schools	81%	70%	42%	26%
Require transgender individuals to use public bathrooms that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with	80%	73%	45%	16%
Require health insurance companies to cover medical care for gender transitions	18%	27%	21%	49%

QUESTION #11 | AI REGULATIONS
Who should create rules or regulations about AI safety and security for private companies developing new AI technology? You may select more than one option.

	Overall	Traditionalist	Pragmatist	Centrist	Egalitarian
The U.S. government should create the rules and regulations	53%	54%	48%	49%	61%
Companies should work together to create a shared set of rules and regulations	53%	61%	49%	49%	53%
Each company should be allowed to create its own rules and regulations	19%	23%	26%	18%	12%
Something else	5%	3%	3%	5%	7%
There should not be any rules or regulations	3%	3%	2%	5%	3%

QUESTIONS #12-13 | SOCIALISM
Do you have a favorable or an unfavorable view of socialism?

	Overall	Traditionalist	Pragmatist	Centrist	Egalitarian
Very favorable	5%	5%	5%	3%	8%
Somewhat favorable	25%	21%	17%	20%	39%
Somewhat unfavorable	23%	17%	30%	24%	22%
Very unfavorable	21%	33%	25%	18%	10%
Don’t know	25%	24%	22%	35%	20%

Do you consider the following things to be examples of socialism?

	Socialism	Not Socialism	Don’t know
Free healthcare for all	54%	25%	21%
Free college tuition	48%	27%	25%
Government-run utilities	43%	30%	27%
Government-subsidized housing	39%	35%	26%
Rent control	36%	38%	26%
Medicaid	32%	43%	25%
Government-funded sports stadiums	31%	38%	31%
Government farm subsidies	28%	40%	32%
Public schools	28%	51%	21%
Social Security	27%	50%	23%
Medicare	26%	51%	23%
Labor unions	25%	48%	26%
Public transportation	25%	53%	22%
A minimum wage	24%	52%	24%
Unemployment benefits	24%	52%	24%
Public libraries	23%	56%	21%
The U.S. Postal Service	22%	54%	24%
Fire departments	21%	57%	22%
Police departments	21%	57%	23%
The military	20%	55%	25%
National parks	20%	58%	22%
Federal interstate highways	19%	54%	27%
Antitrust regulation	18%	36%	46%
Zoning	17%	46%	37%

QUESTION #14 | WORKING CLASS IDENTITY
How well would you say each of the following phrases describes you?

	“extremely well” or “very well”
	Overall	Traditionalist	Pragmatist	Centrist	Egalitarian
Open-minded	76%	77%	66%	79%	78%
Respectful of authority	72%	86%	78%	68%	60%
Working class	59%	73%	62%	56%	46%
Interested in visiting other countries	53%	47%	51%	47%	63%
Traditional	46%	73%	59%	43%	19%
Skeptical of what experts say	34%	48%	46%	21%	25%

	Extremely well	Very well	Somewhat well	Not too well	Not at all well
Open-minded	33%	43%	22%	2%	1%
Respectful of authority	34%	38%	25%	3%	0%
Working class	26%	32%	27%	8%	6%
Interested in visiting other countries	32%	21%	23%	15%	9%
Traditional	17%	30%	35%	17%	2%
Skeptical of what experts say	11%	22%	41%	20%	5%

QUESTION #15 | GLP-1 MEDICATIONS
Are you currently taking weight loss medications such as semaglutide (brand names Ozempic and Wegovy), liraglutide (brand name Saxenda) or tirzepatide (brand names Mounjaro and Zepbound)?

	Overall	Traditionalist	Pragmatist	Centrist	Egalitarian
Yes	15%	18%	22%	10%	12%
No	85%	82%	78%	90%	88%

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Methodology

• Audience: Ideologically Moderate US White Women
• Sample size: 575
• Date in field: September 22, 2026