Just over half of South Dakotans approve of the way Kristi Noem is running the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to a poll of 500 registered voters co-sponsored by South Dakota News Watch.
Asked about the former South Dakota governor’s job performance in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, 51% said they approve and 44% said they disapprove, with 5% not sure.
In the same poll, 58% said they approve of how Gov. Larry Rhoden is doing since he took over the job from Noem in February. U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who assumed the chamber's top position in January, received a job approval rating of 55%.
The statewide survey, also sponsored by the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota, polled registered voters regardless of party, unlike the GOP-only 2026 gubernatorial primary poll published April 28. The breakdown was 255 Republicans, 126 Independents and 119 Democrats.
Of Republicans polled, 71% said they approve of Noem's job performance after more than two months in her new role, compared to 44% of Independents and 15% of Democrats.
Stu Whitney
Jon Schaaff, a political science professor at Northern State University in Aberdeen, called Noem's job performance numbers "tepid" compared to her time as governor, though drawing conclusions between different jobs can be tricky.
Noem's high-water mark in South Dakota came during the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2020, when 57% of voters regardless of party approved of her performance as governor.
Bulletproof vests and prison photos
Noem, a 53-year-old Castlewood native who served as governor from 2019-2025, has become the face of immigration enforcement as the Trump administration carries out its policy of mass deportations.
She has traveled from street raids in New York City to a high-security prison in El Salvador and meetings with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum.
Her methods have drawn as much attention as her mission, which involves running a federal network of 22 agencies and 260,000 employees.
She donned a bulletproof vest during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in late January, soon after being confirmed, posting a message about “getting the dirtbags off these streets.”
Noem also posted photos of herself at the commands of a C-130 surveillance plane during a visit to U.S. Coast Guard service members in Alaska and standing in front of prisoners at a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador.
“People need to see that image,” Noem told Fox News of the photos of her surrounded by rows of tattooed inmates inside their cells. “They need to see that the United States is going to use every tool that we have to make our communities safer, that that is a consequence of someone who is a terrorist."
The Trump administration has acknowledged mistakenly deporting a man named Kilmar Abrego Garcia to that El Salvador prison in March, resulting in a federal judge's order for the U.S. government to facilitate his return, which has not happened.
An Economist/YouGov poll from April 19-22 showed that Americans by a 2-to-1 margin believe that Abrego Garcia should be returned to the United States.
Kristi Noem's strongest support among male voters
Noem fared significantly better with male voters in the News Watch poll than female voters, which was also the case when she served as governor.
The poll showed that 57% of male voters approve of Noem’s performance as Homeland Security Secretary, compared to 46% of female respondents.
Geographically, her job approval was strongest among voters in the East River/North region, including Aberdeen, Brookings and Watertown, with 57%. That was followed by West River (53%), East River/South (49%) and Sioux Falls Metro (45%).
Noem's support in the poll was above 50% in every age group except 65-plus, where respondents registered 43% approval and 52% disapproval.
Mason-Dixon Polling and Strategy conducted the poll from April 9-11, using random selections from a telephone-matched state voter registration list that included both landline and cellphone numbers. The margin of error was no more than 4.5 percentage points.
John Thune job performance at 55% approval
More than half of South Dakotans support the job performance of longtime Republican statesman Thune as he settles into his new role as majority leader of the U.S. Senate, working closely with the Trump administration.
The poll showed that 55% of respondents approve of the job he's doing, while 35% disapprove and 10% were not sure.
Of Republicans polled, 79% said they approve of Thune's job performance, compared to 40% of Independents and 19% of Democrats.
Thune, elected to the job by his GOP Senate peers last November, has navigated through a formerly fraught relationship with Trump, overseeing confirmations of all the president's Cabinet nominees, sometimes at a cost.
Several of those Cabinet officials have been involved in early controversies, from discussing military plans on an unclassified Signal app chat to encouraging the Republican president to follow through with steep tariffs on trading partners.
“Everybody’s got to be rolling in the same direction," Thune said of the upcoming challenge of passing the GOP's budget reconciliation package. "It takes a lot of teamwork.”
Thune's support in South Dakota is generally consistent across geographic regions, though slightly lower in East River/South (51%), which includes Mitchell, Yankton and Vermillion.
The poll found that 59% of male voters approve of his job performance, compared to 50% of female voters.
Larry Rhoden needs to target 'not sure' voters
Rhoden became the first South Dakota governor to be sworn in during a legislative session when he took the oath of office at the state Capitol in Pierre on Feb. 8.
He was thrust into a leadership role tied in part to Noem's budget policies and priorities, including a planned prison project in rural Lincoln County that needed final funding in 2025 and was rejected by legislators.
So far, 58% of voters approve of Rhoden's job performance, compared to just 17% who disapprove. That approval number is higher than Noem's last job performance assessment in a News Watch poll, a rating of 52% in May 2024 following an ill-fated book tour. Her disapproval rating was 46%.
Still, the fact that 25% responded to the Rhoden question with "not sure" shows that many South Dakotans are reserving judgment until they see more of what the 66-year-old Union Center native stands for.
“(Noem) and I kept South Dakota strong, safe, and free — and I'm continuing that mission in my administration by cutting property taxes, making targeted investments for public safety and limiting regulations," Rhoden told News Watch.
Though he hails from West River, Sioux Falls Metro was Rhoden's strongest region with 69% approval, followed by East River/North and West River (56%) and East River/South (47%).
Rhoden, without any direct ties to Washington or Trump, has more bipartisan support than Noem or Thune. The poll showed him with 80% approval from Republicans, 39% from Democrats and 38% from Independents.
The governor's strongest age group was 35-49 years old with 64% approval, followed by 50-64 (60%), 65-plus (57%) and 18-34 (47%).
Julia Hellwege, an associate political science professor at USD and director of the Chiesman Center, said that Rhoden's main challenge is to promote his political brand and policies to address the 25% of voters in the poll who were "not sure" about his performance as governor.
"People will start forming an opinion," she said, noting a separate GOP-only survey where 40% had a neutral view of Rhoden and 13% hadn't heard of him. "Hopefully the number of people who don't recognize the name of the governor will be reduced, not just for his sake but also for the sake of civic education."
The Associated Press contributed to this story, which was produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit organization. Read more stories and donate at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email every few days to get stories as soon as they're published. Contact Stu Whitney at stu.whitney@sdnewswatch.org.
