But opinion splintered much more on who should take the lead role in driving the nation’s agenda; in fact, the results suggested that many Americans might prefer a kind of multipolar Washington, with three distinct orbits of power checking each other.

The newly elected president, strikingly, did not top the list when adults were asked who they “trust more to develop solutions for the major challenges facing the country.” A 35 percent plurality of those polled picked Democrats in Congress; Trump finished second at 26 percent. But when combined with the additional 20 percent who pointed to congressional Republicans, more adults looked toward the GOP than to Democrats. (The remaining 15 percent said they trusted “none of the above.”) Even among Trump voters, a relatively modest 53 percent said they most trusted him to develop solutions; about one-third picked congressional Republicans.

Sheila Boeggeman, a homemaker and Trump supporter from Medford, Oregon, is one respondent who expects the new president to set the pace for Washington. “I think that Donald Trump is not one to sit by and be passive, so I think he’ll probably take the lead, especially just trying to set the tone, and from there hopefully everybody will work together,” she said.

But Arleen Yeager, a former public-school art teacher who now makes prints and paints in Nashville, Tennessee—and who supported Clinton—remains dubious of looking to Trump for answers. “I want to go crawl under a rock for the next four years,” she said. “Truly, the man has nothing to offer this country. Nothing. And I know these people all want a change and they thought he could bring change, [but] he has no political experience. He has nothing to offer. Nothing. And most of all, it just makes me so terribly sad. … I’m not anti-Republicans … but this man is awful. Just awful. He’s awful for everybody.”

The latest Heartland Monitor Poll is the 27th in a series examining how Americans are adapting to the changing economy. The new poll focuses on reactions to the 2016 election, as well as the public’s priorities and expectations for the new administration and Congress.

Splintered loyalties were also evident on a subsequent question that asked adults whether they most trusted Trump, congressional Republicans, or congressional Democrats to handle 15 specific issues. As the chart below shows, on no issue did a majority of adults point to Trump. He scored best on one of his signature themes—creating jobs—with 42 percent saying they most trusted him to stop “American companies from moving jobs to foreign countries” and 40 percent preferring him for “negotiating trade deals that benefit America.” In both cases, that far outpaced the share of adults who looked first to congressional Democrats—or, for that matter, congressional Republicans.