A recent YSL News/Suffolk University poll indicates President-elect Donald Trump finds himself in a better political position than he was at the start of his first term. However, he has not succeeded in convincing most Americans of the soundness of some significant campaign promises.

The poll conducted just before his inauguration highlights both his opportunities and challenges as he becomes the first president since Grover Cleveland to win the White House, lose a reelection, and then come back to win it again.

“Keeps coming back to the economy – I want him to fix it,” expressed Brandon Porria, a 30-year-old political independent and IT specialist from Hollister, California, who voted for Trump in November. He was among the respondents in the poll. “The one thing I don’t want him to do is, you know, be petty and waste time going after people who might have had ill feelings toward him.”

Respondents overwhelmingly identified the economy as the top issue, with 47% highlighting it. Immigration came in a distant second at 21%.

On the other hand, the issues that voters did not want Trump to pursue included investigating officials from the Biden administration and congressional Democrats (24%) and granting pardons to those involved in the January 6 insurrection (23%).

The survey included 1,000 registered voters, conducted via landline and cellphones from January 7 to 11, with a margin of error of approximately 3.1 percentage points.

“My hope is that he becomes a little bit more like a team player; I hope he’s more middle ground,” noted Ashley Oliver, a 38-year-old independent from Birmingham, Alabama, who voted for Democrat Kamala Harris. She felt encouraged by seeing Trump and former president Barack Obama engaging pleasantly at a state funeral for Jimmy Carter last week.

But she added, “My fear is that he won’t do that.”

Trump elicits strong feelings among the public, both positive and negative.

While 31% of participants said they feel “excited” about Trump’s return to office, the same percentage expressed feeling “afraid.”

Nonetheless, this sentiment is more favorable than in December 2016 regarding Trump’s initial term, when only 16%