Political Protests Have Tripled Since Trump 1.0

The number of political protests held during Trump’s first nine months in office this year have more than tripled compared to the same period in his first term.

As Statista’s Anna Fleck details below, using data collected and analyzed by Harvard University and University of Connecticut titled the Crowd Counting Consortium, there had been 29,138 political protests as of September 30, 2025, compared to just 8,314 on September 30, 2017.

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The organization includes a wide range of protest types within its scope including, but not limited to, rallies, counter protests, marches, civil disobedience, vigils, student-led walkouts, encampments and banner drops. These cover a range of issues, from calls for a ceasefire in Gaza to justice for police brutality.

Saturday October 18, 2025 saw anti-Trump protests across the United States, under the “No Kings” movement. The Crowd Counting Consortium is yet to add the data for the total number of protests and events held across the country on that day. However, according to G. Elliott Morris of Strength in Numbers, the median estimate for protester figures, based on local officials, protest organizers and attendees, stands at 5.2 million.

According to the Harvard data platform, as of September 30, the biggest day for protests in 2025 was June 14. Coinciding with Trump’s birthday, this was when the first nation-wide No Kings rallies were held, with a total of 2,363 protests counted in one day. The next biggest day for protests was April 5, when the Hands Off wave of demonstrations took place. These were also against the Trump administration’s policies, including decrying newly imposed global tariffs, cuts to government agencies and the federal workforce, as well as broader concerns such as democratic backsliding.

In 2017, the biggest day of protests was January 21, which was one day after Trump entered office for the first time and marked the Women’s March.