Pete Hegseth holds the lowest approval rating of any member of President Trump's Cabinet, a new poll shows, even as the defense secretary projects confidence on the world stage and the White House insists his relationship with the president remains strong. Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has done little to quiet speculation that he would welcome a call to take over the Pentagon, and Trump himself appears to have noticed.
The Daily Mail/JL Partners survey of more than 1,000 U.S. voters found Hegseth sitting at just 32 percent approval, against 39 percent disapproval. Among independents, his approval drops to 26 percent. Among Democrats, 52 percent disapprove and only 14 percent approve. Even among conservatives, his natural base, he manages 56 percent approval, a number that would alarm any officeholder running a major wartime department.
Those numbers land as the U.S. military engagement with Iran nears what the Daily Mail describes as its eighth week, a period when public confidence in the Pentagon's leadership carries real weight.
A White House official told the Daily Mail that Hegseth continues to have a good relationship with the president. The official offered no elaboration, and no direct quote was provided. That single-sentence reassurance is doing a lot of heavy lifting against a backdrop of recent Cabinet-level firings that have fueled reports about allies angling for new positions inside the administration.
Hegseth, for his part, has leaned into the role. At an on-camera briefing with reporters on a recent Friday morning, he struck a hawkish tone on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, delivering a warning that left little room for ambiguity:
"If Iran is putting mines in the water, or otherwise threatening American commercial shipping or American forces, we will shoot to destroy."
That is the posture of a secretary who intends to stay. Whether the numbers, and the president, cooperate is a different question.
Hegseth's tenure has already been marked by aggressive personnel moves. He confirmed the ouster of an Army nuclear official after a hidden-camera exposé on classified leaks, a decision that drew both praise from reform advocates and criticism from those who saw it as destabilizing.
His weak poll standing is not new. Before he was even confirmed, an AP-NORC poll found only about two in ten Americans approved of his nomination for defense secretary, while roughly one-third disapproved and another third didn't know enough to form an opinion. About half of Americans told AP-NORC pollsters that relying on people without government experience for advice on government policy is a bad thing; only about one-quarter called it a good thing.
Hegseth acknowledged the perception gap during his confirmation hearing, promising to be a "change agent" for the branch. He arrived with liabilities well catalogued in the press, allegations of sexual assault, reports of excessive drinking, and past comments about women in combat and what he called "woke" generals. None of those controversies have faded with time.
Enter Ron DeSantis. The Florida governor's second term is winding down, and he has done nothing to discourage talk that he could be next in line at the Pentagon. In a recent interview with journalist Graham Bensinger, DeSantis was pressed about reports that he had been considered for the Pentagon post after the 2024 election. His answer was carefully calibrated, neither a denial nor a campaign launch:
"It's never anything I've aspired to do, but at the same time, I'm a service-oriented guy, like, if I can be beneficial. So I would never rule anything out."
That is the kind of non-denial that keeps a name in circulation. DeSantis also told Bensinger he's "got more in the tank," a phrase that reads less like retirement talk and more like a résumé bullet.
The speculation gained another layer after Trump and DeSantis recently shared lunch in Florida. Axios reported that following the meal, Trump told a confidant: "Ron was begging me to be AG." The remark, if accurate, suggests Trump is aware of DeSantis' ambitions, and willing to characterize them on his own terms.
An unnamed source cited in the Daily Mail's reporting went further, saying DeSantis would be interested in "War secretary or Supreme Court." That's a wide net, and neither outcome is within DeSantis' control. But the fact that such talk circulates at all reflects the political reality: when a Cabinet member polls at 32 percent approval during a military conflict, the bench starts warming up.
The broader turbulence at the Defense Department extends well beyond Hegseth's poll numbers. Trump recently addressed the firing of Navy Secretary Phelan, citing internal conflicts over shipbuilding, a reminder that Pentagon leadership churn has become a recurring feature, not an anomaly, of this administration's approach to military management.
Any potential shakeup at the Pentagon would face a practical bottleneck: the Senate confirmation calendar. Senator Thom Tillis recently told Politico that time is running short for getting Senate-confirmed nominees through the Republican-controlled chamber.
"The number of working days are very limited. You just do the math. It's a very compressed schedule."
Tillis' warning applies to any nomination, not just a hypothetical Hegseth replacement. But it underscores the cost of turnover. Every firing or resignation resets the clock, burns political capital, and leaves a department running on interim leadership during a period of active military operations.
That dynamic has played out repeatedly. The abrupt early retirement of Army Chief of Staff Randy George, ending a Biden-era tenure two years ahead of schedule, added to the sense of institutional upheaval around the Defense Department. Stability has been in short supply.
Hegseth's defenders point to his willingness to challenge entrenched Pentagon culture. He has removed officers from promotion lists in the name of meritocracy, drawing sharp criticism from Democrats but applause from conservatives who believe the military's senior ranks drifted too far from warfighting priorities under the previous administration.
Polling a Cabinet member is an unusual exercise. Most Americans cannot name their secretary of defense in peacetime, let alone form an opinion about one. The fact that Hegseth registers 39 percent disapproval, higher than his approval, suggests his public profile is driven more by controversy than by policy accomplishment. That gap matters when the country is engaged militarily and the defense secretary's credibility is part of the national posture.
The 56 percent approval among conservatives is worth examining, too. It means more than four in ten self-identified conservatives either disapprove of Hegseth or haven't formed a positive view. For a figure who built his brand as a conservative media warrior, that's a soft foundation.
None of this means Hegseth is leaving. Presidents do not fire Cabinet members over poll numbers alone, and Trump has shown a willingness to stand by appointees who draw fire from the press. A White House that wanted to signal a change would not bother sending an official to affirm the relationship.
But the ingredients for a future move are visible: a weak public standing, a willing successor who won't close the door, a president who keeps his options open, and a Senate calendar that makes delay expensive. Whether those ingredients combine into anything depends on one man's judgment, and Donald Trump has never been shy about making personnel decisions on his own timeline.
In Washington, the surest sign that someone's job is safe is when nobody asks about it. By that measure, Hegseth has a problem, and DeSantis has an opportunity he clearly doesn't intend to waste.
