Donald Trump's Personnel Picks: New Poll Finds Elon Musk With Highest Approval By Voters, Matt Gaetz With Highest Disapproval

Donald Trump has announced several picks for potential nominees for his White House administration since winning the 2024 presidential election.

While the picks still have to be nominated and approved in many cases, voters were recently asked to share whether they approve of or disapprove of his current selections.

What Happened: Trump's announced picks have generated plenty of discussion on social media and across the political spectrum with the announced picks of Matt Gaetz as attorney general and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. leading the Health and Human Services generating the most buzz.

A new Morning Consult poll asked voters how they think Trump is doing with his transition.

The poll found that 54% of voters approve of Trump's handling of his transition since winning the 2024 election, with 38% disapproving and 8% saying they don't know or had no opinion.

Split by political party, Republicans showed a higher approval rating (93%) of Trump's handling of the transition compared to Democrats (20%). Independent voters were more split with 46% approving, 40% disapproving and 14% having no opinion or saying they don't know.

Trump's 54% approval rating is only six points below the 60% approval rating President Joe Biden had four years ago from a Morning Consult poll.

Did You Know?

• Congress Is Making Huge Investments. Get Tips On What They Bought And Sold Ahead Of The 2024 Election With Our Easy-to-Use Tool

Personnel Pick Ratings: Here are the approval and disapproval ratings of recent personnel picks by Trump for his next White House term.

• Mike Huckabee, U.S. Ambassador to Israel: 44% approval, 31% disapproval, 25% no opinion
• Marco Rubio, Secretary of State: 45% approval, 34% disapproval, 21% no opinion
• Elise Stefanik, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations: 38% approval, 29% disapproval, 33% no opinion
• Stephen Miller, Deputy White House Chief of Staff: 36% approval, 30% disapproval, 34% no opinion
• Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence: 39% approval, 33% disapproval, 29% no opinion
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Health and Human Services Secretary: 44% approval, 39% disapproval, 16% no opinion
• Elon Musk, co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency: 45% approval, 40% disapproval, 15% no opinion
• Vivek Ramaswamy, co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency: 39% approval, 34% disapproval, 27% no opinion
• Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency Administration: 34% approval, 29% disapproval, 37% no opinion
• Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense: 37% approval, 32% disapproval, 31% no opinion
• Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security: 37% approval, 33% disapproval, 30% no opinion
• Matt Gaetz, Attorney General: 34% approval, 41% disapproval, 25% no opinion

Why It's Important: The selection of Gaetz could face the most scrutiny by members of Congress if he is formally nominated. The Republican resigned from Congress the same day Trump announced the attorney general role for him.

Gaetz was investigated by the Department of Justice for sex trafficking before it declined to charge the congressman.

The former Congressman was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for sexual misconduct. Allegations against the Trump ally include sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, accepting improper gifts and more. Gaetz has denied the allegations.

Gaetz is the only person in the poll to receive a higher percentage of disapproval than approval.

When it comes to disapproval, Gaetz ranks first at 41% followed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk at 40%.

Musk, who has been named by Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency and cut government spending, also has the highest approval rating at 45%, tied with Marco Rubio.

Musk has the lowest percent of voters saying no opinion, showing how opinionated voters are of his potential selection. Musk maintains a positive net approval rating of 45% to a disapproval rating of 40%.

Kennedy Jr. ranks among the highest for approval at 44% and for disapproval at 39%. Like Musk, Kennedy also has a low amount of voters saying they have no opinion at 16%.

Huckabee has the highest net approval rating in the poll at 13 points.

This poll was taken before Trump announced Dr. Mehmet Oz as his choice as Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator.

Read Next:

• Trump Wants Matt Gaetz Confirmed ‘100%,’ So Does The Cannabis Industry

Photo: Musk, White House, public domain; Trump and Getz, Shutterstock