Should Trump be barred from 3rd term? What poll found after he said he’s ‘not joking’

Most Americans believe President Donald Trump will try to serve a third term in office — and that he should be stopped from doing so, according to a new YouGov poll. However, among Republicans, there is no consensus on these questions.

The poll, conducted March 31, comes the day after Trump told NBC News that he is seriously interested in serving a third term — an action explicitly prohibited by the U.S. Constitution, which forbids a president from being elected more than twice.

“I’m not joking,” the president said, adding that “there are methods which you could do it.”

It’s not the first time Trump has signaled an unprecedented desire to stay in office for more than eight years. Since returning to the White House in January, he’s repeatedly teased the idea of running again — but, unlike his recent comments, his past remarks have appeared to be facetious.

“It will be the greatest honor of my life to serve, not once but twice or three times or four times,” he said at a Jan. 25 rally in Nevada, before noting that the comment would generate “headlines from the fake news,” according to Roll Call.

“Should I run again? You tell me?” he said one month later at a White House event, according to The Hill. “There’s your controversy right there.”

Will Trump try to serve another term?

In the poll — which sampled 3,565 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points — 56% of respondents said that Trump will definitely or probably try to serve a third term in office. Meanwhile, 28% said he definitely or probably will not.

Most Democrats and independents — 72% and 55%, respectively — said they believe the president will attempt to stay in office past 2029. Republicans, on the other hand, were roughly evenly divided, with 43% saying he won’t try for a third term and 40% saying he will.

The results indicate a growing share of the public believes Trump will attempt to stay past two terms.

In a November poll, less than half of respondents, 45%, said they believed the president would try for a third term, and in a February poll, 51% said the same.

Should he be allowed to run again?

The vast majority of respondents, 68%, said that Trump should definitely or probably not be allowed to serve a third term — indicating most Americans believe the Constitution should be adhered to. In contrast, 20% said he should definitely or probably be allowed to serve another term.

Here, again, there were significant partisan differences.

An overwhelming majority of Democrats and independents — 87% and 73% — said Trump should be barred from a third term.

But, Republicans were about evenly split, with 43% saying he should be permitted to serve another term and 42% saying he should not be able to.

For Trump to serve a third term, it would require a constitutional amendment, which is highly unlikely, given three-quarters of state legislatures would need to ratify it for it to go into effect.

This story was originally published April 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM with the headline "Should Trump be barred from 3rd term? What poll found after he said he’s ‘not joking’."