What do Americans think of 'No Kings' protests? Here's what a new poll found

Brendan Rascius, The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) on Jun 16, 2025

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Americans are divided over the “No Kings” protests, which were held across the country on Saturday, according to new polling.

The demonstrations — which coincided with President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday and the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary parade in Washington, D.C. — were a response to what organizers called the president’s authoritarian actions.

About 2,100 individual protests were held, which, in total, were attended by around 5 million people, according to an estimate from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which helped organize the demonstrations.

“Today’s protests are a resounding message that people across the nation will not be intimidated by President Trump’s fear tactics,” Deirdre Schifeling, ACLU’s chief political & advocacy officer, said in a statement. “Americans are brave, democracy-loving people and will not sit idly by as the Trump administration feeds our Constitution into the shredder.”

The White House, meanwhile, went on the offensive, criticizing the mass gatherings.

“The so-called No Kings protests have been a complete and utter failure with minuscule attendance,” Steven Cheung, the White House director of communications, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “It is sad Democrats and liberals would rather support criminals and illegals instead of celebrating the 250th anniversary of our great U.S. Army and Flag Day.”

Here is what the latest YouGov poll found about the protests. What the poll found

A plurality of respondents, 49%, said they either strongly approve (38%) or somewhat approve (11%) of the demonstrations.

Meanwhile, 35% said they either strongly disapprove (26%) or somewhat disapprove (9%). Sixteen percent said they were not sure.

Unsurprisingly, the results largely broke along partisan lines, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.

The vast majority of Democrats, 80%, said they strongly or somewhat favor the “No Kings” demonstrations. In contrast, more than two-thirds of Republicans, 68%, said they strongly or somewhat opposed the protests.

Independents fell somewhere in the middle, with 47% in favor and 31% opposed.

The survey comes three days after a similar YouGov poll, which asked the same question ahead of the “No Kings” protests.

In the earlier poll, 45% of respondents said they approved of the planned demonstrations, while 37% said they opposed them — indicating support ticked up slightly over time.

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