Political survey points to public anxiety in U.S. with Trump’s exercise of presidential power

Bob Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University, says there could be implications for Kansas politics in a Pew Research Center survey saying nearly 70% of U.S. adults who think President Donald Trump relies heavily on executive power and a majority of those individuals find the results aren't beneficial to the United States. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — Nearly seven in 10 U.S. adults in a national survey said President Donald Trump relied on executive power more than previous presidents, and a majority of individuals who reached that conclusion believe his use of federal authority wasn’t good for the country.

Overall, 69% of people who participated in the survey by Pew Research Center said Trump was depending more on executive authority than predecessors at the White House. Among respondents holding that position, 49% attached negative outcomes to Trump’s approach. Twelve percent said the president’s deployment of executive power was beneficial to the United States.

“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.

GOP leaders in the Kansas Legislature are seeking signatures of two-thirds of House and Senate members to call a special session in November to redraw the state’s four congressional district boundaries so it would be difficult for Davids to win in 2026. The GOP effort has been viewed by Davids as an attempt to disenfranchise voters, including Republicans in her district anchored by Johnson County.

Pew said 21% of 3,455 adults taking part in the Sept. 22-28 survey held the position Trump’s use of executive power in his second term was comparable with other presidents and 2% were convinced he was less reliant on that power than predecessors.

Eight of 10 Democrats told Pew that Trump pushed the power of the presidency beyond the level of recent presidents and the result was detrimental to the country. A mere 1% of Democrats said Trump’s use of presidential authority would improve the United States, Pew said.

Republicans in the survey were more divided as 49% said Trump was trying to exert more presidential power. A majority of these Republicans, however, said the outcome was useful to the nation. Pew said 24% of GOP-leaning individuals said the result would be bad for the country.

“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 described itself as a “nonpartisan fact tank” dedicated to informing the public about issues, attitudes and trends through polling, demographic research and content analysis. It is a subsidiary of the Pew Charitable Trust, which is the research center’s primary funder.

The new survey explored questions about whether Trump “definitely or probably” used his office improperly since taking office in January. Sixty-six percent said Trump had abused his power to “punish those who say things he does not like” and 62% were of the opinion he encouraged federal investigation of political opponents.

Sixty-four percent said the president definitely or probably didn’t set a high moral standard as president, Pew said. Sixty percent said Trump hadn’t improved the United States’ standing in the world. And, 59% said the president hadn’t improved the way government worked.

Pew said results showed Republicans and Democrats were more likely in 2025 than in 2019 to conclude Trump was striving to enrich himself, friends or family while serving as president. Here are comparison numbers: 89% of Democrats said Trump has enriched himself in 2025, up from 84% in 2019; and 31% of Republicans reached that conclusion in 2025, up from 23% in 2019.

In another section of the new survey, 51% of Americans said Trump relied to heavily too on issuance of executive orders. Twenty-seven percent were comfortable with the volume of executive orders signed by Trump, while 16% were unsure.