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By Sam Stevenson
Associate News Editor
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President Donald Trump is now less popular than Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, according to a ranking released by the polling company YouGov.
The company's Q4 2025 popularity ratings reveal that Trump now ranks 18th among the most popular American politicians, with 33 percent of respondents holding a positive opinion of him. In contrast, Kelly ranks 16th, with a 34 percent positive opinion score.
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment by email outside regular business hours.
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Why It Matters
The poll follows a high-profile fight between Kelly and the Pentagon, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth censured him and moved to cut his Navy rank and pension over a video in which Kelly reminded troops they can refuse illegal orders.
Kelly has now filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that the Trump administration is retaliating against him for protected political speech.
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What To Know
The latest YouGov rankings mark a reversal from the company's Q3 2025 report, when Trump ranked in 13th position with a 35 percent positive opinion score, compared to Kelly in 20th place on 30 percent.
Barack Obama came top of the list of most popular U.S. politicians in the Q4 2025 rankings, scoring 60 percent. He was followed by Bernie Sanders on 54 percent, and Arnold Schwarzenegger on 52 percent.
Meanwhile, Trump scored a 98 percent fame score (the percentage of respondents who recognize his name), with Kelly scoring 63 percent.
Kelly raised the issue of refusing illegal orders alongside five other Democratic lawmakers after a series of controversial military actions under the Trump administration, including unauthorized strikes and domestic troop deployments.
Trump originally called Kelly and other Democrats "traitors," and said their remarks on social media were "seditious behavior, punishable by death."
The YouGov popularity scores are calculated as the percentage of surveyed adults in the U.S. who report having a positive opinion of each politician. Data is collected daily and updated quarterly, with Q4 2025 rankings reflecting the most recent 90-day period, according to the pollsters.
YouGov uses rim weighting (raking) for demographic adjustments, ensuring a nationally representative sample by aligning with census characteristics for gender, race, age, and education.
What People Are Saying
Kelly told NPR: "I've given so much for this country, and so has my family. I'm a fourth-generation service member. You know, can Donald Trump say that?… This is the way they're going to deal with me. And it sends a chilling effect to service members—retired service members especially across the country, but anybody who served in the military and any U.S. citizen—that if you speak out against this president, they're going to come after you."
Hegseth wrote on X last week: "Captain Kelly's status as a sitting United States Senator does not exempt him from accountability, and further violations could result in further action.
"These actions are based on Captain Kelly's public statements from June through December 2025 in which he characterized lawful military operations as illegal and counseled members of the Armed Forces to refuse lawful orders.
"This conduct was seditious in nature and violated Articles 133 and 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to which Captain Kelly remains subject as a retired officer receiving pay."
Anthony Michael Kreis, a constitutional law professor at Georgia State University, told NBC: "Having a United States senator subject to discipline at the behest of the secretary of defense and the president—that violates a core principle of legislative independence. Any way you cut it, the Constitution is fundamentally structurally designed to prevent this kind of abuse."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said last week, as reported by PBS: "Mark Kelly is a hero and a patriot committed to serving the American people. Pete Hegseth is a lap dog committed to serving one man – Donald Trump."
What Happens Next
YouGov’s next set of ratings, due in spring 2026, will show whether these trends represent a longer-term shift in Trump and Kelly's popularity, or a short-term reaction to recent issues and controversies.
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