Poll: Americans uneasy as Trump expands power
By: Jason Lange
and James Oilphant
Reuters
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump;s expansion of executive power, including his unprecedented push to send troops into U.S. cities to combat crime and his attempt to seize control of aspects of the economy, has left Americans uneasy, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
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The findings, suggest that a substantial majority of the public favor limits on presidential power and does not approve of Trump's efforts to shatter longstanding norms.
..... "President Trump has not convinced most Americans that there is an emergency in this country that requires greatly expanded presidential power to address," said David Hopkins, a political scientist at Boston College.
..... Over the last few weeks, Trump's administration has taken control of the Washington DC, police department and deployed National Guard troops to the city, claiming that crime their is our of control. Trump said on September 12 [2025] that he would also send National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee.
..... On crime, only 32% of Am3ericans said they would feel safer with armed soldiers deployed to large cities in their state, the poll found. Some 62% of Trump's fellow Republicans were warm to military patrols in big cities, but only 1 in 4 independents felt the same way, as did just 1 in 10 Democrats.
..... Only 1 in 5 respondents said they often feel unsafe because of high crime in their area, and just a third of people overall said they avoid big sites because of crime, suggesting that a majority of voters view crime as a remote phenomenon that does not affect them personally. About half of Republicans say they steer clear of large cities for fear of becoming victims.
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"People agree that crime and safety are an issue, but they think Trump's abuse of power doesn't fix the problem, he makes it worse," said Jesse Ferguson, a veteran Democratic strategists.
..... Trump has also taken a strong hand in attempting to regulate the U.S. economy by pushing for the government to take a 105 stake in chipmaker Intel while demanding a count of profit from tis Nvidia, another chipmaker, for tis sales in China.
..... He has tired to pressure the federal Reserve to lower interest rates and tired to fire a member of its Board of Governors following allegations the central banker committed mortgage fraud, a charge the officials has denied. The president has faced legal challenges to his tariffs across a range of nations, claiming trade unbalances constitute a national emergency. He has also threated to retaliate against U.S. companies such as Apple if they don't expand their domestic operations.
..... The Reuters/Iposo poll found just 16% of Americans overall - including 2% of Democrats and 34% of Republicans - thought it would be good for the president to have president to set interest rates and tell companies where to manufacture products. Trump's overall approval rating remains stable a t42%, according to the poll, with 9 in 10 Republicans supporting him.
..... "Even if citizens have concerns about urban crime or economic performance, they don't view either issue as currently in a state of unprecedented crisis requiring unprecedented resumes to resolve," Hopkins said.
..... U.S. voters overwhelmingly want their president to respect the authority of federal courts, with 9 in 10 Democrats and 7 in 10 Republicans saying the president should abide by justiciable rulings even if he disagrees with them.