A majority of Americans believe that Donald Trump received excessive personal profit after returning to power, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Most respondents also think the president and his family profited from cryptocurrency projects in an unacceptable way, and that his political decisions may be swayed by private business interests.
A four‑day poll completed on Monday showed that half of Republicans think the president lets his business interests influence his decisions. This is a notable finding for a leader who promised to fight corruption in Washington. Last year, Trump earned more than 1.4 billion dollars from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures, including World Liberty Financial and the meme coin Trump, which he publicly endorsed. In March 2025, two months after the start of his second presidential term, Trump highlighted his cryptocurrency on social media, calling it “the greatest of all”.
About 63% of respondents said that such profits by Trump and his family are unacceptable, while 32% consider them acceptable, and the remainder did not answer. Among Republicans, roughly 30% called the deals unacceptable, whereas about 70% deemed them acceptable.
Influence on political decisions
Overall, 69% of Americans—including two‑thirds of independent voters and nine out of ten Democrats—believe that Trump’s private business interests affect his presidential decisions. The White House rejected conflict‑of‑interest accusations, saying Trump’s investments are managed by independent financial institutions. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said: “There are no conflicts of interest. The president acts solely in the interests of the American public.”
Trump himself claims that after returning to office he does not take part in the day‑to‑day operations of the family business and that his investments are handled independently. During his second term he pursued policies favorable to cryptocurrencies after raising crypto funds during the election campaign.
Unprecedented combination of business and politics
Experts in presidential ethics have described the current blend of business and politics in the White House as unprecedented. Richard Painter, chief ethics lawyer under Republican President George W. Bush, said: “We have never seen anything like this; even Trump’s first administration did not have as many complex business interests as his second administration.”
Americans are divided on whether corruption under the Trump administration has become more serious than under other recent presidents. Democrats mostly think corruption has increased, while Republicans are roughly split: 56% say the situation has at least somewhat improved, and the rest say it has stayed the same or worsened.
Elections and public opinion
Democrats regularly stress possible corruption in the administration ahead of the November midterm elections, which will decide control of Congress for the next two years. The Trump administration, in turn, has pledged to investigate alleged corruption in states governed by Democrats.
Thomas Schmidt, a semi‑retired traffic regulator from Kudah, Wisconsin, who voted for Trump in 2024 but was disappointed this year, called the situation “alarming.” He added: “He should be more concerned with his presidency than with his business practices.” Schmidt also expressed worry about Trump’s ability to curb inflation or withdraw the USA from the war with Iran, which he helped start. At the same time, he noted that combining business deals with politics is not unique to any single president, saying: “I think every president has done something similar.”
Trump campaigned ahead of his 2016 victory, promising to fight corruption in Washington—the famous “drain the swamp” pledge. Public attitudes toward his personal enrichment could influence his party in the November midterms, which will determine who controls Congress during the final two years of his term.
Americans believe corruption is widespread across government levels: four out of ten Democrats say they are extremely outraged by bribery, compared with one in four Republicans. When asked which party is more corrupt, 41% named the Democratic Party and 49% named the Republican Party.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted online, surveyed 1,166 adult residents of the USA from August 14 to 17. The margin of error is 3 percentage points for all Americans and 5 points for Democrats, Republicans, and independent voters.
Source: Reuters
