How much power do Americans think the president has? Depends on the issue, poll finds

How much control do Americans believe the president actually has? The answer varies widely depending on the issue, new polling reveals.

The latest YouGov poll found that most Americans believe the president exerts considerable control over foreign affairs — and little to no control over numerous domestic issues.

It also found stark divides between Democrats and Republicans, with the latter group being more likely to say that the president has a lot of control.

The poll was conducted between July 18 and 20, sampled 1,118 U.S. citizens age 18 and older. It has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.

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Foreign versus domestic divide

Respondents were posed with 30 issues and were asked, “How much control do you think U.S. presidents typically have over the following?” They had to choose from these six answers:

• total,
• a lot,
• some,
• not much,
• none,
• not sure.

The issue that most people thought the president had control over was military operations, with 71% of respondents saying he has total or a lot of control over it.

Similarly, 69% said they believed the president had total or a lot of control over foreign policy.

A majority of respondents also said they believed the president exerted total or a lot of control over judicial appointments (58%), natural disaster response (58%) and the national debt (53%).

Meanwhile, the issues that respondents thought the president had the least control over were all domestic issues.

Just 9% of respondents said the president had total or a lot of control over high school graduation rates.

Eleven percent said the same for drug addiction rates, and 12% said the same for private sector wages.

Less than 20% of respondents said the president exerted total or a lot of control over:

• stock market returns (13%),
• local law enforcement (15%),
• state and local laws (15%),
• gun deaths (16%) and
• public school curricula (17%).

Partisan divide

When broken down by political affiliation, a large divide emerged.

Compared to Democrats, Republicans said the president has more control over nearly every issue, including military operations, trade deficits and gas prices.

Further, Republicans dramatically outpaced Democrats over several hot-button issues, including illegal immigration rates.

Here, 75% of Republicans said the president has total or a lot of control, while 31% of Democrats said the same.

Similarly, 58% of Republicans said the president exerts total or a lot of control over tax rates, while 36% of Democrats said the same.

There were three issues, though, that Democrats were more likely to say the president has control over: gun deaths, abortion access and poverty rates.

The divide was the largest over gun deaths — with 22% of Democrats saying the president has total or a lot of control and 13% of Republicans saying the same.

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