BISMARCK — North Dakotans strongly support the job President Donald Trump has done in his first month of office but are less enthusiastic about early efforts closer to home from state lawmakers, according to a new statewide poll.

The poll of 500 likely voters across North Dakota showed 52% approved of the work the Trump administration is doing, while 32% disapproved. The largest proportion, 42%, strongly approved of the president’s handling of the top issues facing the country over the past month.

Likewise, 56% said the 47th president’s executive orders and policy decisions during his first month in office were either excellent or good. Another 36% thought his decisions were either not good or poor.

Likely voters also overwhelmingly approve of the work the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX mogul — and the world’s richest man — is doing in auditing federal government agencies.

This includes support for searching for corruption, canceling or renegotiating contracts, laying off government employees and downsizing or cutting government programs.

A total of 59% supported the efforts of DOGE, while 33% disapproved. The largest portion, at 51%, strongly approved of the Musk-led department’s work.

In the 2024 presidential election, the tandem of Trump and now-Vice President JD Vance secured 66.96% of the over 360,000 votes cast in the state.

The poll, commissioned by the North Dakota News Cooperative between Feb. 27 and March 2 as the 69th Legislative Assembly broke for its mid-session recess, paints a murkier picture for local politics, with some negative sentiment emerging on legislator performance and approval.

A strong portion, 35%, said they disapproved of how it handled issues they care about the most. Another large segment, or 23%, strongly disapproved of how legislators handled issues in the first half of the session. A total of 39% said it was too early to say how the current Legislature is performing.

The Legislature has tackled a range of issues since the start of January, from property taxes and school choice to other hot-button issues relating to topics like gender, sexuality and reproductive rights.

There were also several topics related to religion, including a resolution to recognize the “kingship of Jesus Christ” to a bill requiring the 10 Commandments to be displayed in schools. Neither of those passed.

Controversial bills that did move forward include the elimination of daylight saving time and a bill that would end funding for public radio.

As for Gov. Kelly Armstrong, an overwhelming proportion of respondents said it’s too early to tell how he is performing, with 73% on the fence about his policies just two months into his term.

The largest portion of 10% strongly approved of his performance so far.

Of poll respondents, 76% definitely plan to vote, 14% probably plan to vote and only 3% said they would not vote at all in the 2026 midterm elections. Of those participating, 48% self-identified as Republican, 20% as Democrat and 30% as Independent.

The North Dakota Poll, conducted by leading polling firm WPA Intelligence, surveyed 500 eligible and likely voters and has a margin of error of +/- 4.4%. The poll surveyed roughly equal numbers of men and women, as well as equally from the eastern and western halves of the state.

This story was originally published on NewsCoopND.org