What word would you use to describe Donald Trump? We know he would reach for genius high IQ and assorted other immodest claims.

Most of us might opt for demented, dangerous or proto-Fascist.
Sadly, for him the US public has a different view than he has of himself.

The Economist YouGuv (11-14 September 2026) poll asked 1461 registered voters what word they would use to describe Trump.

The survey divided responses into what words describes Trump; the share who say it does not describe Trump; and share of those who have no opinion.

The most common word was corrupt with 53% of respondents nominating that word to describe him. Only 23% said Corrupt didn’t describe Trump while 23% had no opinion.

The next most common was dangerous with 51% nominating that to describe Trump, 23% said it didn’t and 23% had no opinion.

Out of touch was nominated by 47%, 22% said it didn’t and 32% had no opinion. Cruel had 46% nominating the word as describing Trump, 25% thought it didn’t and 29% had no opinion.

45% said he was bold, 16% didn’t think it applied and 39% had no opinion. 45% agreed he was racist with 29% thinking he wasn’t. 26% had no opinion. 42% thought divisive described him, 14% didn’t and 44% had no opinion.

What would have been galling for Trump was that only 37% thought he was strong, 35% intelligent and 33% effective and a mere 23% thought he was honest. Who said the average punter isn’t well-informed?

Only 19% thought he was inspiring and 40% didn’t.

Amazingly 49% had no opinion whether he was steady or not.

Meanwhile, the incomparable G. Elliott Morris has been investigating how self-reported votes can be misleading because people can misremember or change their reported vote. For instance, disaffected Trump voters are the ones now declining to admit they voted for him.

Morris also said: “A You/Guv/Economist named-candidate polling using actual candidates’ names in each district showed Democrats up 11% among likely voters versus 8 points on CBS’s standard generic ballot question.

Morris also reported that a 50+1 forecast now gives Democrats a 97% chance of winning the House and 65% chance in the Senate where polls have moved towards Democrats in the most competitive states.