A majority of voters think redistricting is bad for the country
A new Emerson College Polling national survey finds President Donald Trump holds a 39% job approval rating, while 55% disapprove of the job the president is doing. On the 2026 midterm election generic ballot, the Democratic candidate holds a 10-point lead over the Republican candidate, 50% to 40%.
“Independent voters prefer the Democratic candidate by 15 points, 45% to 30%, while Hispanic voters break for the Democrat by 34 points, two groups that have been steadily supporting the Democratic candidate for the past three months,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said.
As America nears its 250th anniversary, voters were asked if they feel generally optimistic, pessimistic, or uncertain about the future of the country. Forty-two percent feel optimistic, 41% feel pessimistic, and 18% feel uncertain about the future. The question was replicated from The Roper Organization in 1976; at that time, 43% felt optimistic, 15% pessimistic, and 39% uncertain. Fifty years later, pessimism increased 26 points, from 15% to 41%, while optimism remained constant from 43% to 42%.
“A majority of Republicans, 67%, are optimistic about the future of the country, while 52% of Democrats and 50% of independents feel pessimistic about the future,” Kimball said.
A plurality of women say they feel pessimistic about the future of the country at 44%, while 37% are optimistic and 20% are uncertain. Men are more optimistic about the future: 47% say they are optimistic, 38% pessimistic, and 15% uncertain.
A plurality of voters (46%) think mid-decade redistricting is generally a bad thing for the country, while 38% think it is generally a good thing. A majority of Democrats and independents (51%) think it is a bad thing, while a majority of Republicans (56%) think it is a good thing.
The economy remains the top issue for voters in the U.S. at 38%, followed by threats to democracy at 18%, immigration at 14%, healthcare at 13%, and crime and housing affordability at 5%, respectively.
2026 World Cup
Twenty-two percent of voters are very interested in the World Cup, while 33% are somewhat interested, and 45% are not interested at all.
“Interest in the World Cup is significantly higher among younger voters than older voters: 38% of voters under 40 are very interested in the World Cup, compared to 10% of voters 70 and over,” Kimball said.
Those in the Northeast are most likely to be very interested at 25%, followed by those in the South and West at 23%, compared to 19% in the Midwest.
Forty-two percent of voters say they plan to follow the World Cup somewhat or very closely, while 58% say they will not follow it too closely or not follow it at all.
- 60% of Hispanic voters and 63% of Black voters plan to follow the World Cup somewhat or very closely, compared to 35% of white voters.
- 72% of voters under 30 plan to follow the World Cup closely, compared to 25% of those over 70.
2026 NBA Finals
Nearly a third of voters (32%) are rooting for the New York Knicks to win the 2026 NBA Finals, while 15% are rooting for the San Antonio Spurs. Twenty-nine percent say they do not watch basketball, and 24% have no preference.
Regionally, those in the Northeast are rooting for the Knicks over the Spurs, 42% to 10%, while those in the South are more split: 30% are rooting for the Knicks and 20% are rooting for the Spurs.
America’s Sport
Voters were asked what they view as“America’s Sport.”. Of those with an opinion, 56% think football is America’s sport, 29% baseball, 9% basketball, 2% ice hockey and soccer, respectively, and 1% say tennis, lacrosse, and golf, respectively.
Methodology
The Emerson College Polling national survey was conducted June 7-8, 2026. The overall sample of U.S. likely voters, n=1,200, has a credibility interval, similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE), of +/- 2.8 percent. The data sets were weighted by gender, education, race, age, party registration, and region based on U.S. Census parameters and voter file data.
It is important to remember that subsets based on demographics, such as gender, age, education, and race/ethnicity, carry with them higher credibility intervals, as the sample size is reduced. Survey results should be understood within the poll’s range of scores, and with a confidence interval of 95% a poll will fall outside the range of scores 1 in 20 times.
Data was collected by contacting registered voters from a voter file provided by Aristotle using MMS text-to-web, additional panel interviews were provided by PureSpectrum. The survey was hosted on QuestionPro. All respondents were recruited using customized links that prevent responses from anyone outside of the poll’s sample frame. Panel responses were matched to the Aristotle voter file using respondents’ full name and ZIP code. The survey was offered in English.
All questions asked in this survey with exact wording and order, along with full results, demographics, and cross tabulations can be found below.
1976 Question: The Roper Organization. Roper Reports # 1976-05: Consumerism, 1976 [Dataset]. Roper #31097321, Version 3. The Roper Organization [producer]. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research [distributor]. doi:10.25940/ROPER-31097321
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