As a follow up to the baseline survey conducted in January 2025 and March follow-up survey, Galvanize Action surveyed a different set of 564 ideologically-moderate white women to gauge their opinions on key issues and beliefs about the likelihood of potential social, economic, and political scenarios occurring over the next four years.

KEY FINDINGS

• The economy remains the most important issue to ideologically-moderate white women, and these results show a statistically meaningful increase in that concern.
• Overall, nearly half of women in this sample feel that the views of the Republican party are “too conservative.” Nearly half also think the views of the Democratic party are “too liberal.”
• Open-ended responses reveal negative sentiment toward the Republican party from the majority of respondents. Many respondents across segments say Democrats are doing nothing well, and both parties are seen as polarizing and contributing to discord.
• Most respondents believe Trump is performing worse than expected on the economy and healthcare, and doing worse than expected at standing up for everyday citizens and following through on commitments.

Details

MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE

In previous surveys conducted in March and August, Galvanize Action asked different samples of ideologically-moderate white women what they believed to be the most important issue facing the country. Though the economy has consistently been the most frequently selected issue throughout these surveys, there was a notable increase from August (29%) to November (36%). This increase exceeds the margin of error, which means the variation across months and samples could be an indicator of change. Selection rates for the other top four issues (preserving democracy, healthcare, crime, and immigration) have remained consistent from August to November.

OPINIONS ON THE POLITICAL PARTIES

This survey asked participants whether they believe the views of each political party are too conservative, too liberal, or about right. Overall, nearly half of women in our audience feel that the views of the Republican party are too conservative and nearly half think the views of the Democratic party are too liberal.

Looking at responses to these questions by segment, the majority of Pragmatists believe the views of the Republican party are “about right,” and that the views of the Democratic party are “too liberal.” In contrast, responses among Centrists are more evenly split, with nearly half describing each party as “about right,” and nearly half describing each party as too extreme, respectively.

The table below summarizes the responses to both questions together, looking specifically at our two middle segments, Pragmatists and Centrists. Here, we see that nearly half of Pragmatists believe the views of the Republican party to be “about right” and the views of the Democratic party are “too liberal.”

In contrast, responses from Centrists are more divided, finding one party “about right” and the other too extreme, finding both parties too extreme, or finding both parties “about right.” They almost equally believe the Republican party is too conservative (44%) and the Democratic party is too liberal (43%). 

Regardless of your current party affiliation, which of the following best reflects your opinion on the views of each party in the U.S.?

	Pragmatist	Centrist
The views of the Republican party are about right, and the views of the Democratic party are too liberal.	46%	22%
The views of the Republican party are too conservative, and the views of the Democratic party are too liberal.	14%	21%
The views of both the Republican party and the Democratic party are about right.	12%	18%
The views of the Republican party are too conservative, and the views of the Democratic party are about right.	9%	21%
The views of the Republican party are too liberal, and the views of the Democratic party are about right.	7%	7%
The views of the Republican party are about right, and the views of the Democratic party are too conservative.	6%	2
The views of both the Republican party and the Democratic party are too liberal.	3%	NA
The views of both the Republican party and the Democratic party are too conservative.	2%	1%
The views of the Republican party are too liberal, and the views of the Democratic party are too conservative.	1%	7%

Additionally, respondents were asked two open ended questions about the political parties: 

• Regardless of your current party affiliation, what issues, if any, do you believe the Republican party is currently doing a good job handling?
• Regardless of your current party affiliation, what issues, if any, do you believe the Democratic party is currently doing a good job handling?

A majority of respondents expressed negative sentiment towards the Republican party. However, feeling negatively towards the Republican Party did not equal positive sentiment toward Democrats. Respondents associate Democrats with being strong on healthcare, protecting democracy, and caring about the environment. They associate Republicans with Trump, the economy, and immigration/border security. Respondents held conflicting views on whether the Republican Party is trying to help or hinder the Trump administration’s agenda. Both parties were perceived by some respondents to be disorganized and working to sow societal discord, and both received responses saying that they aren’t handling anything well. Both parties are seen as polarizing. 

Several respondents expressed frustration with the Democratic party’s perceived inaction regarding the Trump administration, while others felt that what the Democratic Party is doing the best right now is “fighting back.” Egalitarians most frequently said that the Republican Party was doing nothing well, and Traditionalists were by far the most supportive of the Republican party. Pragmatists see Republicans’ approach to immigration as a strong positive. Centrists are much more mixed overall, but some attribute economic success to Republicans and many agree with their approach to immigration. Even as Pragmatists primarily reject the Democratic Party, many say that they are strong on healthcare: the party’s strongest theme across all segments.

OPINIONS ON TRUMP

This survey asked respondents to consider the expectations they had for President Trump’s second term, then to rate his performance on a variety of issues from “much worse than expected” to “much better than expected” (5-point scale). Overall, ideologically-moderate women find Trump’s performance on the economy and healthcare to be worse than expected. For other issues, the majority of respondents think his performance is about what they expected or better; notably, there are no issues where the majority of women surveyed believe he is doing better than expected.

Looking at mean responses for each issue, we see that Centrists seem to find Trump’s performance worse than expected on all issues presented, while Pragmatists are more split between better and worse, depending on the issue. Most notably, all four segments generally find Trump’s performance on the economy and healthcare to be worse than expected, to varying degrees.

In a similar format, Galvanize Action presented respondents with a list of personality traits and behaviors commonly attributed to President Trump and asked them to rate how well he has portrayed those characteristics so far compared to their expectations. A slight majority of women surveyed believe Trump is doing worse than expected at standing up for everyday citizens, and once again, there are no categories where those who believe he is doing better than expected come close to the majority.

We again see Centrists consistently finding Trump’s portrayal of these behaviors worse than expected, but here, Pragmatists do not seem to dip below “as expected.” In alignment with their ratings of Trump’s performance on foreign affairs and immigration, Pragmatists find him to be doing “better than expected” at being tough on crime and immigration and on being a strong negotiator with foreign leaders. His weakest traits among Pragmatists are standing up for everyday citizens and being anti-establishment, at which they find him to only be performing “as expected.”

DEMOCRACY

This survey presented respondents with a list of potential actions that could be taken by the federal government and asked them, regardless of their likelihood, which would make them feel the need to speak out, protest, or take other actions against them (“red lines”). Participants were allowed to select as many responses as they wanted. We also asked this question to two different samples of moderate white women in previous surveys conducted in March and August.

Looking at responses from August to November, only small changes are present for all actions, indicating that opinions among our audience are stable. We do see one notable decrease: While 21% of the August sample said they would not risk their safety or the safety of their loved ones to oppose any of these actions, only 11% of the November sample said the same. While there is a decrease in the percentage saying they wouldn’t oppose any actions due to safety concerns, analysis of further survey questions indicates that this doesn’t translate to increased action-taking against Trump’s policies, where safety remains a consistent barrier. The change may reflect how people respond to hypothetical scenarios rather than an increased willingness to act.

Like the survey in August, this survey asked participants whether they support or oppose President Trump’s recent policies and whether they would not take action, would like to take action, or have taken action to show their support or opposition. Most responses are similar by segment, except for a steep decline in Pragmatists saying they support Trump’s policies but would not take action (51% in August; 37% in November). Looking at support vs. oppose as a binary, the breakdown among Pragmatists is consistent, with 68% of Pragmatists in the August sample and 66% of Pragmatists in the November sample supporting Trump’s policies. This stable support/oppose ratio, combined with apparent increased action-taking among supporters, suggests Pragmatists are becoming more actively engaged in supporting Trump.

As a follow up, this survey asked respondents who selected one of the three opposition responses to the previous question for more information about why they may not have taken action. Notably, we see an increase in respondents citing lack of knowledge as a barrier in November compared to August. References to social consequences, doubts in ability to create change, and safety concerns remain stable. These stable barriers suggest that the practical obstacles preventing action among current opponents haven’t diminished.

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Methodology

• Audience: Ideologically Moderate US White Women
• Sample size: 564
• Dates in field: November 18, 2025

QUESTIONNAIRE

QUESTION #1 | MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE
In your opinion, which of the following issues is the MOST important issue facing the country?

	March	August	November
Economy	30%	29%	36%
Preserving democracy	15%	16%	14%
Healthcare	9%	12%	12%
Crime	7%	11%	9%
Immigration	11%	8%	8%
Gun violence	5%	6%	6%
Climate change	7%	6%	5%
Abortion	4%	1%	2%
Education	3%	3%	2%
Foreign affairs/Focus overseas	3%	4%	2%
Other	3%	3%	2%
DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)	3%	1%	1%
LGBT Issues	1%	0%	1%

QUESTION #2 | VIEWS ON POLITICAL PARTIES
Regardless of your current party affiliation, which of the following best reflects your opinion on the views of each party in the U.S.?

Overall
	Too liberal	About right	Too conservative
The views of the Democratic party are…	49%	43%	9%
The views of the Republican party are…	10%	42%	48%
Traditionalist
The views of the Democratic party are…	70%	19%	11%
The views of the Republican party are…	13%	64%	23%
Pragmatist
The views of the Democratic party are…	63%	28%	8%
The views of the Republican party are…	11%	64%	25%
Centrist
The views of the Democratic party are…	43%	47%	10%
The views of the Republican party are…	14%	42%	44%
Egalitarian
The views of the Democratic party are…	25%	69%	6%
The views of the Republican party are…	3%	8%	89%

QUESTION #3 | TRUMP’S PERFORMANCE ON ISSUES COMPARED TO EXPECTATIONS
President Trump was elected a year ago. Taking into consideration your expectations for his second term, how well do you think he has performed on the following issues since he took office in January?

	Much better than expected	Somewhat better than expected	About as expected	Somewhat worse than expected	Much worse than expected
Abortion	3%	6%	52%	16%	22%
Crime	9%	15%	33%	18%	25%
DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)	8%	10%	39%	13%	30%
Economy	5%	11%	24%	23%	38%
Foreign affairs/Focus overseas	13%	17%	28%	13%	28%
Healthcare	3%	10%	32%	20%	34%
Immigration	15%	16%	23%	15%	31%
Preserving Democracy	8%	12%	32%	16%	33%

QUESTION #4 | TRUMP’S CHARACTERISTICS COMPARED TO EXPECTATIONS
Now, thinking about some of the personality traits and behaviors that President Trump is known for, how well do you think he has portrayed the following characteristics since he took office in January?

	Much better than expected	Somewhat better than expected	About as expected	Somewhat worse than expected	Much worse than expected
Putting America first	16%	16%	23%	12%	33%
Being anti-establishment	5%	10%	53%	11%	21%
Projecting confidence	15%	15%	33%	11%	25%
Being decisive and taking quick action	14%	18%	33%	12%	24%
Keeping promises and following through on commitments	11%	14%	27%	15%	34%
Being a strong negotiator with foreign leaders	16%	20%	26%	11%	27%
Standing up for everyday citizens	12%	12%	24%	13%	39%
Strength as a leader	14%	15%	27%	11%	33%
“Tells it like it is” without going too far	12%	12%	28%	15%	32%
Being “tough” on issues like crime and immigration	16%	18%	31%	12%	23%

QUESTION #5 | RED LINES
Whether or not you think they will actually happen, which of the following actions would you consider a “red line” if the federal government did them? In other words, if the government did these things, you would feel the need to speak out, protest, refuse to follow the law, or take other actions against them? Please select all that apply.

	March	August	November
Allows the military to use deadly force against peaceful protesters	58%	58%	56%
Uses the justice system to jail political opponents without proof they did anything wrong	54%	53%	52%
Passes a law taking away custody rights from transgender, lesbian, and gay parents and forcing their children to be taken from them	51%	46%	48%
Uses federal agencies to stop media outlets from criticizing elected officials	41%	38%	41%
Takes away citizenship from children born in the U.S. to immigrant parents who came here illegally	43%	42%	43%
Passes a law that forces people to report anyone who isn’t a citizen to the government	44%	41%	40%
Refuses to abide by lawful court orders and takes unconstitutional actions	52%	50%	52%
I would not oppose any of these actions	4%	6%	5%
I would not risk my safety or the safety of my loved ones to oppose any of these actions	20%	21%	11%

QUESTION #6 | OPINION ON TRUMP POLICIES AND TAKING ACTION
Thinking about what people can do to show their views on President Trump’s recent policies, which of the following best describes you?

	August	November
I have taken action to oppose President Trump’s policies since he took office.	12%	15%
I would like to take action to oppose President Trump’s policies but have not done so since he took office.	20%	20%
I oppose President Trump’s policies but would not take action to oppose them.	20%	21%
I support President Trump’s policies but I would not take action to support them.	29%	24%
I would like to take action to support President Trump’s policies but have not done so since he took office.	11%	11%
I have taken action to support President Trump’s policies since he took office.	7%	9%

QUESTION #7 | REASONS FOR NOT TAKING ACTION
How important are each of the following when it comes to explanations for why you may not have participated in activities to oppose President Trump’s policies?

	August	November
I am worried I will face consequences at work or in my personal life.
Not at all important	25%	22%
Not too important	25%	21%
Somewhat important	28%	28%
Very important	22%	29%
I do not know how to participate in those actions.
Not at all important	20%	17%
Not too important	27%	23%
Somewhat important	35%	45%
Very important	17%	15%
I don’t think those actions will create change.
Not at all important	11%	11%
Not too important	17%	16%
Somewhat important	49%	47%
Very important	24%	26%
I am worried about my safety in taking those actions.
Not at all important	9%	9%
Not too important	18%	16%
Somewhat important	39%	37%
Very important	33%	38%