WESA-Campos Survey: Pittsburghers on everything from Trumps’ policies to the NFL draft

Campos and 90.5 WESA, Pittsburgh’s NPR News Station, are partnering on a series of short opinion surveys of adults in the Pittsburgh region to better understand their opinions on a range of timely topics. This joint research and reporting project will ensure WESA can tap into the opinions of people in Pittsburgh on a regular basis and use the corresponding results to complement its reporting. (For more information, or to sign up to participate, click here.)

In this edition of the WESA/Campos Pulse Survey, we probed respondents’ thoughts and perceptions on a wide variety of topics, from the political (local and national) to the personal.

Key Findings

Note: “Republican” and “Democrat” in these findings refer to respondents’ registered party, if they are registered to vote; otherwise, it refers to the party (if any) that “best describes” the respondent’s political affiliation.

Roughly three quarters of respondents report that they or members of their household have already felt “direct effects of changes made by the Trump administration.” (The question does not specify whether the felt effects are negative or positive.)

“Direct effects” were defined in the survey as “experiencing a specific change to your or your family’s well-being, such as to your finances, health, legal status, etc.”
The results are politically polarized: Democrats (and, less so, independents) are more likely than Republicans to say their household has felt direct effects.
- 47% of Democrats, and 38% of independents, report having felt at least a “moderate amount” of direct effects, compared to 34% of Republicans. Republicans are especially likely to say that they’ve felt no direct effects at all (41%), while only 18% of Democrats say this.
Most other subgroup differences are predictable based on the political leanings of those subgroups.
- However, interestingly, men in the survey (who are more likely to be Republicans) are somewhat more likely than women in the survey to say they’ve felt at least a “moderate amount” of direct effects.

Respondents overall are less satisfied with “the way things are going in the Pittsburgh metro area under the current county and city leadership” than they were about two years ago—especially among Democrats and City of Pittsburgh dwellers.

The same question was asked in Pulse Survey 1 (fielded April 25-28, 2023), allowing us to perform longitudinal comparisons.

The share of respondents who feel only “slightly well” or “not well at all” about the current county and city leadership has risen from 46% in 2023 to 61% in 2025—a 15-point swing.
- Most of that change is attributable to a drop in the share who felt “moderately well”: from 43% in 2023 to 30% in 2025 (a 13-point swing).
Similar shifts toward lower satisfaction are seen across all political alignments—Democrats, Republicans, and independents—but the shift is especially pronounced among Democrats. 36% of Democrats felt “slightly well” or “not well at all” in 2023, compared to 57% in 2025.
The shift is also especially pronounced among those who live within the City of Pittsburgh (34% felt “slightly well” or “not well at all” in 2023, compared to 59% in 2025), as opposed to those who live outside the city limits.

When it comes to priorities for the Pittsburgh area’s leadership, respondents today are more likely to prioritize infrastructure and economic growth than they did two years ago.

The same question was asked in Pulse Survey 1 (fielded April 25-28, 2023), allowing us to perform longitudinal comparisons.

“Crime prevention & public safety” (selected by 61% of respondents) remains in the top slot, but is now tied with “Infrastructure upkeep & improvements” (60%).
- In 2023, “Crime prevention & public safety” was 15 percentage points ahead of “Infrastructure upkeep & improvements,” but the latter has risen while the former has fallen, bringing them to the same level.
“Growing the region’s economy” has risen by 13 percentage points (from 30% to 43%), bringing it to the #3 priority, now ahead of “Housing policy & homelessness” (which fell slightly from 40% to 36%).
“Healthcare access & affordability” has also risen substantially as a priority (from from 17% to 25%), making it the #5 priority.
“Education & workforce development” and “Improving racial and social equity” both fell slightly as priorities (from 26% to 21%, and 23% to 18%, respectively).
“Clean energy & environmental concerns” and “Childcare quality and access” remained approximately constant, near the bottom of the list.

As we move into Spring, we also asked respondents to reflect back on winter. Perhaps surprisingly, respondents (on balance) tend to feel that they and their households had less seasonal illness this winter, rather than more—with the exceptions of younger respondents and those with children.

A 41% plurality of respondents felt they/their household had “about the same amount” of seasonal illness (cold, flu, stomach virus, or other seasonal illness) this winter compared to the same time last year.
However, 33% felt they/their household had less seasonal illness this winter compared to last, while only 26% felt they/their household had more seasonal illness this winter than last.
The results are correlated at least slightly with age and with the presence of children in the household:
- Younger respondents (especially 18-34 year olds) were more likely to feel they’d had more illness this winter than last, compared to older respondents (especially those aged 65+).
- Those with children in the household were more likely to feel they’d had more illness this winter than last, compared to those without children.

Those with children are almost evenly split on the use of “virtual learning” during snow days.

Of the 94 respondents with K-12 school-aged children in the household, 44% said “My kids and I both like virtual learning during snow days,” while 35% said “My kids and I both dislike virtual learning, bring back full snow days.”
The remainder was made up of 11% who said “I do not like virtual learning during snow days, but my kids do,” and another 11% who said “I like virtual learning during snow days, but my kids don’t.”

A large majority of respondents like that Pittsburgh is hosting the 2026 NFL Draft, and nearly all the rest are indifferent to it.

Specifically, 69% of respondents said either “I like it” or “I love it,” and 25% said “I’m indifferent / don’t know.” Only 5% said either “I dislike it” or “I hate it.”
These results are nearly identical across political party lines—i.e., this is one topic that hasn’t become politically polarized!
18-34 year olds and City of Pittsburgh residents are slightly more likely to be indifferent than other demographics, but the differences are minor.

Survey Methodology

Fielding dates: March 3-10, 2024

Survey length: 5-8 minutes

Sample: 400 adults (age 18+) in the Pittsburgh region

Responses were solicited from the proprietary Campos Research Panel (10,000+ members in the Greater Pittsburgh area). Respondents were offered a chance to win one of five $50 gift cards to incentivize participation.
85% of the respondents reside in Allegheny County, and 15% reside in the adjacent 5 counties (Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Washington, Westmoreland).
The sample was managed to be approximately representative of the 6-county region by age, gender, and race/ethnicity.
- Weighting was applied to the results to achieve representativeness.

Screening Criteria: