Most favor limits on presidential power: Survey

A majority of Americans say they favor most limits on presidential power, according to survey results released Thursday.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted over the weekend, asked respondents about their views on certain broad presidential powers that relate to efforts undertaken by the Trump administration.

Sixty-two percent of respondents say the U.S. president should not be empowered to control police “in my city or town,” and 57 percent say the same about police “in large cities,” while 25 percent and 29 percent say the president should have those respective powers.

Similarly, 59 percent say the president should not have the power to control museums and theaters, and 57 percent say the president shouldn’t be able to “set interest rates and direct companies where to manufacture goods” — compared with just 10 percent and 16 percent, respectively, who say the president should.

Respondents are more closely divided on the question of whether a U.S. president should have the power to “rule without interference from courts and Congress”: 57 percent say he should not, while 31 percent say he should.

The survey comes as President Trump has federalized police in Washington, D.C., and has threatened to do the same in other U.S. cities, though his authority is more limited in sovereign states.

Trump, earlier this year, replaced the Kennedy Center board of trustees with his own appointees, who, in turn, elected the president chair of the board. He also ordered a White House-led review of Smithsonian museums, directing them to remove any “anti-American” content.

Trump has publicly pressured Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates and has sought to incentivize companies to keep manufacturing in the U.S.

Respondents are more likely to oppose than support each presidential power included in the survey, but opposition to certain presidential powers falls short of the 50-percent majority threshold.

On whether the president should have the power to require universities “to pay and change policies for federal funding,” 44 percent say no, 30 percent say yes, and 26 percent say they don’t know or skip the question.

On whether the president should have the power to “require companies to pay to do business in the country,” 40 percent say yes, 33 percent don’t know or skip the question and 27 percent say no.

Respondents are split on whether the president should be able to “require foreign governments to pay to settle trade disputes”: 36 percent don’t know or skip the question, 33 percent say no, and 31 percent say yes.

The poll included 1,084 adults and was conducted Sept. 5-9. Its margin of error is 3 percentage points.