Resistance is alive and well in the United States
Protests of Trump may not look like the mass marches of 2017, but research shows they are far more numerous and frequent--while also shifting to more powerful forms of resistance.
Many underestimate resistance to the current Republican administration because they view resistance through a narrow lens. The 2017 Women's March in particular--immediate in its response, massive in its scope and size--may inform collective imaginations about what the beginning of a resistance movement should look like during Trump 2.0.
In fact, our research shows that street protests today are far more numerous and frequent than skeptics might suggest. Although it is true that the reconfigured Peoples' March of 2025--held on Jan. 18-=saw lower turnout than the 2017 Women's March, that date also saw the most protests in a single day for over a year. And since Jan. 22, we've seen more than twice as many street protests than took place during the same period eight years ago.
In February 2025 alone, we have already tallied over 2,085 protests, which included major protests in support of federal workers, LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, Palestinian self-determination, Ukraine, and demonstrations against Tesla and Trump's agenda more generally. This is compared with 937 protests in the United States in February 2017, which included major protests against the so-called Muslim ban along with other pro-immigrant and pro-choice protests. Coordinated days of protest such as March Fourth for Democracy (March 4), Stand Up for Science (March 7), rallies in recognition of International Women's Day (March 8), and protests demanding the release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil suggest little likelihood of these actions slowing down. These are all occurring in the background of a tidal wave of lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's early moves.
