American presidents are often blamed — and take credit for — things outside of their control. While the executive role carries significant power, it is ultimately limited by the realities of governance and the scope of federal authority.
Americans generally perceive the president to have substantial control over military operations, foreign policy, and judicial appointments — according to a recent survey — and much less control over indicators such as high-school graduation rates, drug addiction rates, and private sector wages.
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe that the president has a lot of control over a wide range of issues, especially immigration, prices, and crime. These also are areas that the Republican Party — and Donald Trump — are seen as better equipped to handle than Democrats and Kamala Harris.
The only outcomes that Democrats are slightly more likely than Republicans to say presidents have a great deal of control over are gun deaths, abortion access, and poverty rates. All of these are areas in which public opinion tends to favor Democratic positions over Republican ones.
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- Who wins on policy? American support for Biden's and Trump’s proposals
- Can the president control gas prices? Answers depend on who you ask and who’s in office
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: This poll was conducted online on July 18 - 20, 2024 among 1,118 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty
