Poll: Americans wary about the president taking unconventional actions

Americans show a strong preference for their elected executives — governors as well as the president — to achieve their political goals through conventional, sometimes slow, procedures, according to the McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s latest Mood of the Nation Poll.

Results showed marked partisan differences. For example, 26 percent of all survey respondents rated a presidential action of firing all recently hired federal employees as “very appropriate,” including only four percent of Democrats and just over half of Republicans.

Still, the poll finds that large numbers of Republican prefer the president use conventional actions to achieve policy goals. Seventy-seven percent of Republicans indicated that it would be “very appropriate” for the president to initiate “a year-long analysis to identify the government positions that waste the most money.”

In reaction to the poll’s findings, Michael Berkman, director of Penn State’s McCourtney Institute for Democracy, commented, "It is heartening to see that most Americans support changing policies by going through traditional channels. These may be slow, but this approach is predictable, honors existing agreements with state governments, contractors, and public employees, and provides checks on the executive branch."

The poll of 3,251 adults took place during the first 100 days of the second Trump administration. A time of rapid change, during which President Donald Trump pushed the boundaries of longstanding norms concerning presidential power. 

For example, Trump has pursued a dramatic reduction in the federal workforce, used his emergency powers to impose tariffs on foreign goods without the involvement of Congress, and has used executive orders to halt multiyear contracts and grants deemed inconsistent with the president’s political agenda.

The poll sought to understand how Americans view actions like these, to gain insight into how citizens view the limits of appropriate executive power.

Respondents were asked to rate each of nine hypothetical executive actions. Since Trump is a polarizing figure, half the poll’s respondents were asked questions about “the president” rather than specifically about “President Trump.” The other half were asked to rate the same actions, if taken by a hypothetical newly elected governor in their state.  

Americans show a strong preference for the president to achieve political goals through conventional procedures

A clear majority, 60 percent, felt that honoring existing contracts was very appropriate. Also receiving high marks, 55 percent felt that it was very appropriate for the president to initiate a year-long analysis to identify government positions that waste the most money, and 44 percent thought it would be appropriate to try to renegotiate existing government contracts.

In contrast, the public shows little support for actions that push the boundaries of presidential power.  Forty-nine percent felt that firing recent hires is not appropriate at all and 54 percent say it is inappropriate to cancel contracts simply because the president campaigned to end the policy. 

Using emergency powers to furlough workers (something that the current administration has not done) or to cut off funds to agencies enforcing laws the president opposes, were viewed as “not appropriate at all” by 61 percent and 69 percent of those polled, respectively. 

Finally, the least favored action was when the president simply chooses to not enforce existing laws they happen to disagree with. Only 7 percent felt this was very appropriate and nearly seven in ten Americans told us this was not appropriate at all.

Evidence of both partisan polarization and a consistent preference for conventional presidential action

Many Americans appear to be evaluating the exercise of presidential power through a partisan lens. But large segments of both parties indicate a preference for more precedented, conventional actions over those with less precedent.

The only presidential action supported as “very appropriate” by a majority of Democrats was that of honoring existing contracts. This was the case regardless of whether the contracts concerned recycling companies, charter schools or road construction (one-third of the sample was asked about each area).

A minority of Democrats viewed the other conventional presidential actions as “very appropriate,” and only a handful indicated that the unconventional actions would be appropriate.

Republicans are much more supportive of the president pursuing the change agenda outlined in the poll’s hypotheticals. Notably, however, Republican support is much higher for conventional presidential actions than the unconventional actions. For example:

• While half of Republicans rate the unconventional presidential action of firing all recently hired federal employees (which mirrors a current Trump administration policy) as “very appropriate,” a significantly higher proportion, three-quarters, support the conventional action of initiating an analysis to identify wasteful positions.

• Fewer than one-third of Republicans rate an unconventional presidential action of suspending contracts as “very appropriate,” while nearly half indicate support for honoring contracts and 71 percent support another conventional action, renegotiating contracts to save money.

Berkman noted, “This poll shows that a majority of Republicans and Democrats agree that following the rule of law is the most appropriate way to govern, though it is worrying to see partisan polarization again divide Americans over yet more issues."

Americans even less supportive of governors taking unconventional actions

Overall, when comparing the responses of those who were asked to rate hypothetical gubernatorial actions to those who rated presidential actions, the survey finds very similar support for conventional actions, but even less support for unconventional actions that would be taken by governors.

And, once again, there are partisan differences, with Republicans favoring the unconventional actions — many of which are geared toward cost savings — at higher rates than Democrats. An interesting nuance, however, is that Democrats are more supportive of governors than the president taking conventional actions, while Republicans are less supportive of governors than the president taking any action, conventional or unconventional, except for honoring existing contracts.

Conventional actions

Overall, 66 percent rated governors honoring existing contracts as appropriate, higher than the 60 percent among those who were asked about the president. Fifty four percent and 44 percent respectively, indicated support for initiating a year-long cost-saving analysis and renegotiating contracts — virtually identical to the responses when asked about the president.

Somewhat fewer were supportive of governor’s calling a special session of the state Legislature than were supportive of the president calling a special session of Congress, even though in practice special sessions are more common at the state level.

While Republicans indicate more support than Democrats for the three change-oriented conventional actions, the gap between the two groups is narrower than when the question is posed about the president. That is, Democrats are more supportive of governors than the president pursing these measures, while Republicans are less supportive of governors pursing these actions.

For example, there is a 21 percentage-point gap (57 percent minus 36 percent) between the proportion of Republicans and Democrats who indicate that governors renegotiating contracts is “very appropriate,” whereas that gap increases to 49 percentage points (71 percent minus 22 percent) when the subject is the president.

Unconventional actions

Overall, fewer respondents rate the unconventional items “very appropriate” when asked about governors than when asked about the president.

Since so few Democrats were supportive of the unconventional actions regardless of whether they were to be taken by governors or the president, the difference largely comes from the responses of Republicans.

For example, approval of mass firings of probationary employees drops from 51 percent when Republicans are asked about the president to 37 percent when asked about governors. Suspending contracts drops from 31 percent to 21 percent, and furloughing employees from 32 percent to 23 percent.

Notably, these patterns do not change appreciably based on the party of the governor currently in control. Few Democrats indicate support for the unconventional actions, even if their current governor is a Democrat. This may be in part because some of the questions asked respondents to imagine “a new governor.” More likely it has to do with the fiscally conservative nature of several of the items.

In summary

Taken altogether these results suggest that all Americans, including both Democrats and Republicans, are more supportive of conventional actions by their elected executives than they are of unconventional actions. It also shows, not surprisingly, that Republicans are more supportive than Democrats of fiscally conservative policy change.

Finally, the findings also suggest that Americans are somewhat more accepting of the president seeking change through unconventional means than they are of state executives taking the same actions. This may be related to how they view the powers associated with the presidency versus those of governors.

However, it may also have to do with the current occupant of the presidency, Donald Trump. While not specifically named in the poll, it would be natural for respondents to be thinking particularly of President Trump when responding to these questions — especially since many of the hypothetical actions they were asked to rate are similar to actions already taken by Trump.

Even with the bump in support for unconventional action for “the president” as opposed to governors, these poll findings suggest that the public, including those in the party of the current president, are more likely to support change pursued through conventional than unconventional channels of governing.

Find a detailed report on the survey’s findings and methodology at the APM Research Lab website.

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