{"id":2295,"date":"2025-11-26T08:05:42","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T08:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/?p=2295"},"modified":"2025-11-26T08:57:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T08:57:42","slug":"poll-only-25-of-americans-think-trump-has-followed-through-on-his-promise-to-release-the-epstein-files","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/?p=2295","title":{"rendered":"Poll: Only 25% of Americans think Trump has &#8216;followed through&#8217; on his promise to release the Epstein files"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After months of opposition, President Trump finally\u00a0signed a law\u00a0last week requiring the Justice Department to release all of its files related to the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n<p>But even then, just a quarter of Americans (25%) think the president has \u201cfollowed through\u201d on his promise to make the Epstein files public, according to\u00a0a new Yahoo\/YouGov poll. Nearly twice as many say he has not (48%), and the rest (27%) are unsure.<\/p>\n<p>The new survey of 1,684 U.S. adults was conducted from Nov. 21 to Nov. 24 \u2014 immediately after Congress passed and Trump signed the bipartisan measure known as the\u00a0Epstein Files Transparency Act, which compels the Justice Department to \u201cpublish (in a searchable and downloadable format) all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials\u201d related to Epstein within 30 days.<\/p>\n<div class=\"caas-iframe-wrapper\" data-embed-anchor=\"cc92a421-742d-5ab0-9063-f4867db503f5\">\n<div class=\"caas-iframe iframe caas-loaded\" data-type=\"iframe\" data-caas-lazy-loading-init=\"1\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/com1a\/1\/\" scrolling=\"no\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The bill itself, which only one lawmaker opposed, is remarkably popular with the public: A full 84% of Americans approve of it, while just 3% disapprove. Reflecting the measure\u2019s near-unanimous support on Capitol Hill, Republicans approve almost as often (83%) as independents (87%) and Democrats (90%).<\/p>\n<p>In July, 84% of Americans\u00a0told Yahoo and YouGov\u00a0they thought Epstein was \u201cguilty of most of the crimes he was charged with\u201d \u2014 and the same number (84%) said they would approve of \u201cthe government releasing all of the information it has\u201d on him. Those numbers are identical today.<\/p>\n<p>Yet questions remain about the president\u2019s handling of the issue.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"trumps-reversals-on-epstein\" class=\"caas-jump-link-heading\">Trump\u2019s reversals on Epstein<\/h2>\n<p>In July 2019, Epstein was arrested by federal agents and accused of paying dozens of teenage girls, some as young as 14, to perform sex acts. (Epstein previously pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court of procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute.)<\/p>\n<p>In August 2019, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in Manhattan while awaiting trial.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, the disgraced financier has been the focus of conspiracy theories that claim he was murdered to conceal the names of powerful people on a secret \u201cclient list.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While campaigning in 2020 \u2014 and, later, in 2024 \u2014 Trump\u00a0repeatedly\u00a0speculated\u00a0about the nature of Epstein\u2019s death; last year, in response to\u00a0a question from Fox News, he said he would declassify the Epstein files if reelected.<\/p>\n<p>After returning to the White House, Trump directed the Justice Department to conduct an exhaustive review of the evidence it had collected (including more than 100,000 pages of physical records, grand jury testimony and digital materials recovered from devices seized at Epstein\u2019s properties).<\/p>\n<p>In July, the DOJ and FBI\u00a0released a two-page joint memo\u00a0concluding that Epstein had \u201ccommitted suicide in his cell\u201d and compiled no \u201cclient list\u201d \u2014 echoing previous findings by the Biden administration.<\/p>\n<p>The move enraged some Trump loyalists, who accused the president and his administration of breaking their promise to release all of the Epstein files. It also put the spotlight back on\u00a0Trump\u2019s own relationship with Epstein.<\/p>\n<p>Trump then spent months\u00a0lashing out at supporters\u00a0for their interest in what he repeatedly referred to as the \u201cEpstein Hoax\u201d and\u00a0pressuring Republican lawmakers to block the Epstein Files Transparency Act.<\/p>\n<p>When it became clear earlier this month that the bill would pass, however, Trump suddenly reversed course,\u00a0writing on his Truth Social platform\u00a0that \u201cHouse Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI DON\u2019T CARE!\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-americans-think-of-trumps-approach-to-the-epstein-files\" class=\"caas-jump-link-heading\">What Americans think of Trump\u2019s approach to the Epstein files<\/h2>\n<p>In the aftermath of his U-turn, overall approval for how the president has dealt with \u201cthe Jeffrey Epstein investigation\u201d (28%) has risen by 7 percentage points compared to where it was in July (21%) \u2014 in large part because Republicans are much more likely to say they approve now (58%) than they were before (44%).<\/p>\n<p>But the majority of Americans (54%) still disapprove \u2014 by a 2-to-1 margin \u2014 of Trump\u2019s approach to the Epstein files, even though he has now seemingly given them what they want.<\/p>\n<p>Why? For one thing, a similar majority of Americans (52%) still say the president has \u201cmostly opposed releasing the Epstein Files since returning to office earlier this year\u201d \u2014 despite the events of the last week or so. Just 24% say Trump has \u201cmostly favored\u201d their release in recent months.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, 50% of Americans say the Trump administration has so far released less of the Epstein files than Trump promised. Only 15% say the administration has released \u201cabout as much\u201d as Trump promised \u2014 and a mere 3% say the administration has released more than Trump promised.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t a purely partisan sentiment. To be sure, the \u201cless than promised\u201d response is biggest among Democrats (73%) and independents (57%). But just over 1 in 4 Republicans (26%)\u00a0<em>also<\/em>\u00a0say Trump has delivered less than promised, and a full 38% of Republicans say they\u2019re not sure. Only 30% of Republicans think Trump has released about as much as he promised he would.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, Americans generally disagree with the arguments Trump has made to justify not releasing more of the Epstein files. To test whether his messaging on the issue has been effective, the poll asked respondents whether they agree or disagree with three anonymous statements.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"caas-list caas-list-bullet\">\n<li>\u201cThe Epstein files are a Democrat hoax perpetrated by radical left lunatics in order to deflect from the great success of the Republican Party\u201d:\u00a0<strong>19% agree, 61% disagree<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe Epstein files are pretty boring stuff. I don\u2019t understand why it keeps going\u201d:\u00a0<strong>19% agree, 61% disagree<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u201cReleasing the Epstein files is not only the right thing to do for the victims but it\u2019s also the right thing to do for the country. Americans deserve transparency\u201d:\u00a0<strong>80% agree, 6% disagree<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The first two quotes (with 19% agreement) come from Trump; the last quote (with 80% agreement) comes from Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene,\u00a0a leading Republican advocate for releasing the Epstein files.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, Greene said she was resigning from Congress after Trump called her a traitor and vowed to endorse her opponent in next year\u2019s election. Yet even Republicans are twice as likely to agree with Greene\u2019s statement that releasing the files is the \u201cright thing to do\u201d (75%) than with Trump\u2019s statement calling the files a \u201cDemocrat hoax\u201d (37%).<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"different-expectations-about-what-the-epstein-files-might-reveal\" class=\"caas-jump-link-heading\">Different expectations about what the Epstein files might reveal<\/h2>\n<p>To recap, Americans want the Epstein files released in full. They think Trump has so far underdelivered on his promise to do just that. Some \u2014 mostly Republicans \u2014 give him credit for changing course last week. But few agree with his arguments for not releasing more of the files sooner.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters of Americans (74%) also think \u201cthe government has been hiding information about Epstein\u201d \u2014 up 5 points from the 69% who\u00a0said in July that the government was hiding information about Epstein\u2019s \u201cclient list.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"caas-iframe-wrapper\" data-embed-anchor=\"73c39603-4e07-5085-8b99-5a2161d8fe21\">\n<div class=\"caas-iframe iframe caas-loaded\" data-type=\"iframe\" data-caas-lazy-loading-init=\"1\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/Hz63E\/1\/\" scrolling=\"no\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>That number largely explains why so many Americans across the political spectrum support the new law requiring the Justice Department to release its Epstein files. But it doesn\u2019t mean Republicans and Democrats agree on what those files might reveal.<\/p>\n<p>A full 82% of Democrats, for instance, think the government has been hiding information about Epstein \u201cbecause it would implicate Trump.\u201d A majority of independents (52%) agree.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, the vast majority of Republicans either think the government\u00a0<em>hasn\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0been hiding information about Epstein (14%); say they\u2019re unsure about that (26%); or think the government has been hiding information because it would \u201cimplicate Democrats\u201d (47%).<\/p>\n<p>Just 13% of Republicans think the Epstein files might implicate Trump. And among self-identified \u201cMAGA Republicans,\u201d support for Trump\u2019s handling of the Epstein investigation (70%) is twice as high as it is among non-MAGA Republicans (35%) \u2014 suggesting that speculation about a\u00a0potential\u00a0MAGA\u00a0\u201crebellion\u201d is overstated.<\/p>\n<p>It remains to be seen what, if anything, the files will reveal. According to the text of the bill itself, the \u201cDOJ is permitted to withhold certain information such as the personal information of victims and materials that would jeopardize an active federal investigation.\u201d Classified material can also be withheld. Those loopholes could limit what comes out in the days ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Attorney General Pam Bondi has already cited concerns about identifying victims or disseminating images of child sexual abuse to explain why the Trump administration did not release more files earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>And earlier this month, Bondi followed orders from Trump and immediately opened an investigation\u00a0into several Democrats who were mentioned in Epstein\u2019s emails\u00a0\u2014 even though the DOJ and FBI had\u00a0previously declared\u00a0that nothing in the Epstein files warranted further scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>When asked how much information will be released, 55% of Americans \u2014 including near-identical percentages of Democrats, Republicans and independents \u2014 predict the files will come out \u201cin limited form with important material withheld or redacted.\u201d Just 18% of Americans believe the Epstein files will be \u201creleased in full.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>__________________<\/p>\n<p><em>The Yahoo survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,684 U.S. adults interviewed online from Nov. 21 to Nov. 24, 2025. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 election turnout and presidential vote, party identification and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Party identification is weighted to the estimated distribution at the time of the election (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). Respondents were selected from YouGov\u2019s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S. adults. The margin of error is approximately 3%.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After months of opposition, President Trump finally\u00a0signed a law\u00a0last week requiring the Justice Department to release all of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-us"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2297,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295\/revisions\/2297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}