Summary
- Nearly
70% of U.S. adults think Trump relies heavily on executive power. - The
majority of those believe this harms the country. - 49%
say Trump uses more power than past presidents, viewed negatively.
TOPEKA — According to a national
survey, over seven out of ten American citizens believe that President Donald
Trump relied more on executive power than past presidents, and most of those
who came to that conclusion think that his use of federal authority was
detrimental to the nation.
According to the Pew Research
Center survey, 69% of respondents believed Trump was relying more on executive
authority than his predecessors. Of those surveyed, 49% attributed Trump’s
strategy to unfavorable results. Twelve percent of respondents believed that
the United States benefited from the president’s use of executive power.
“There is a percentage of
Republicans who aren’t so pleased with Trump’s actions,”
said Bob Beatty, a
political science professor at Washburn University in Topeka.
Beatty said Pew’s national
snapshot of political sentiment didn’t separate
out views of Kansans, but revealed a broad picture of disenchantment. He
speculated the group of people uncomfortable with Trump’s flexing of executive
power included voters who assisted with the election of Democratic U.S. Rep.
Sharice Davids in Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District.
“The very ones that help Davids
get elected in the 3rd District. The very ones the Kansas Republicans
apparently want to redistrict,”
Beatty said.
In order to make it harder for
Davids to win in 2026, GOP leaders in the Kansas Legislature are requesting the
signatures of two-thirds of the House and Senate members in order to summon a
special session in November to redraw the boundaries of the state’s four
congressional districts. Davids has seen the GOP campaign as an attempt to deny
citizens their right to vote, even Republicans in her Johnson County-anchored
district.
According to Pew, 21% of 3,455
persons who participated in the survey conducted from September 22–28 believed
that Trump’s use of executive power during his second term was on par with that
of previous presidents, and 2% believed that he was less dependent on that
power than his predecessors.
According to eight out of ten
Democrats surveyed by Pew, Trump increased presidential power beyond that of
previous presidents, which was bad for the nation. According to Pew, only 1% of
Democrats believed that Trump’s use of presidential power will benefit the US.
There was greater disagreement
among Republicans in the survey, as 49% of them believed Trump was attempting
to exercise more presidential authority. But most of these Republicans believed
the result was good for the country. According to Pew, 24% of GOP-leaning
people said the outcome would be detrimental to the nation.
“What I’m seeing here is a flip,”
said Michael Smith, professor of political science at Emporia State University.
“In recent years, Republicans had been much more united than Democrats. This
survey indicates that this has flipped.”
Pew referred to itself as a
“nonpartisan fact tank” that uses content analysis, demographic
research, and polling to educate the public about topics, attitudes, and
trends. It is a division of the Pew Charitable Trust, the main source of
funding for the research institute.
How might Kansas Republican
leaders respond to the Pew findings?
Historically, several Kansas
Republicans have been closely aligned with Trump, who espouses executive action
as a necessary mechanism for enacting public policy. They may offer strong
arguments that this style of leadership is beneficial for the country and the
state through law and order, economic activity, and judicial appointments.
Given the concerns highlighted in
the Pew survey, Kansas GOP legislators may calibrate their messages carefully
to reassure constituents that checks and balances in government continue to be
adhered to, while advocating for Trump’s agenda.
Additionally, the Kansas GOP
leadership is cognizant of dissent from their rank-and-file members, the Kansas
Democratic Party, and even some moderate Republicans on issues related to
redistricting and their social policy platform.
