A recent survey explores what Americans think about the acceptability of a variety of actions by a U.S. president. Most of the behaviors asked about — which broadly involve governance, abuse of power, and conflicts of interest — are viewed as unacceptable by a majority of Americans. The survey also examines perceptions of behaviors by presidential candidates.
Of the 26 possible presidential actions included in the survey, the ones that are most likely to be viewed by Americans as unacceptable are using campaign funds for personal legal disputes (78%), refusing to comply with subpoenas (69%), saying they may run for president beyond the maximum number of terms (68%), pressuring the Department of Justice to investigate political opponents (67%), and threatening to withhold federal funds for political leverage (66%).
The presidential behaviors that are least likely to be considered unacceptable are making major policy announcements on social media (40% say doing so is unacceptable), conducting official meetings at their own properties (41%), and using social media for official communication (42%). Respondents were asked about a random sample of 13 of the 26 actions.
There are large differences in what Democrats and Republicans consider unacceptable presidential behaviors. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to disapprove of nearly all the actions asked about. More than 80% of Democrats consider it to be unacceptable for presidents to do each of the following: use federal funds for political leverage, to block press access during major events, and to appoint family members to high-ranking government positions. By contrast, less than half of Republicans find each of these actions unacceptable.
The largest partisan gap is on pausing the distribution of federal grants and loans — an action Donald Trump's administration recently took: 84% of Democrats but only 18% of Republicans find this unacceptable.
Only one action asked about was considered unacceptable by a larger share of Democrats than Republicans: issuing pardons to family members, an action Joe Biden took with his son Hunter in December. 72% of Republicans see this as unacceptable, compared to 42% of Democrats. Reactions are reversed on a similar question about pardoning political allies: 39% of Republicans and 67% of Democrats find this unacceptable.
The survey also asked about behaviors by presidential candidates, and found that majorities of Americans view it as unacceptable for someone running for president to pressure election officials to influence results (82%), to threaten to jail political opponents (75%), to refuse to concede after having lost the election (70%), and to accept campaign donations from foreign entities (69%). More say it is acceptable than say it is unacceptable for a presidential candidate to encourage their supporters to engage in poll watching.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to view each of the candidate behaviors asked about as unacceptable. The two actions with the largest partisan gaps are for a presidential candidate to run while facing criminal prosecution and to challenge the legitimacy of the election process.
Related:
- How much control do Americans think the president really has?
- Presidential pardons: Which ones do Americans approve of?
- What do Americans want in a president?
- After the Trump verdict, most Republicans say they're OK with having a criminal as president
- Most Americans think presidents' children — including Hunter Biden — often profit off their parents
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted online among 2,167 U.S. adult citizens on two separate surveys from January 28 - February 3, 2025 and January 29 - February 1, 2025. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3%.
Image: Getty
