President Donald Trump has been attempting to expand presidential power more than any president in recent history, in large part by asserting powers that have been held by Congress, including federal funding and tariffs. Public opinion research has shown clearly and consistently that large majorities — often bipartisan — oppose expanding presidential powers and support giving Congress more power.

The Pew Research Center has asked for nearly a decade whether presidents should not have to “worry so much about Congress and the courts” or if giving presidents more power is “too risky.” Over seven in 10 have consistently said that giving presidents more power would be too risky, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans, no matter which party is in power. In February 2025, 66% of Republicans and 89% of Democrats took this position.

Very few support presidents being able to act unilaterally in defiance of the other branches of government.

An AP-NORC poll in March 2024 found just two in 10 saying it would be “a good thing” for presidents to be able to change policy without Congress or the courts. The president being able to disobey federal court rulings is supported by just 14%, per a recent Ipsos/Reuters poll; and support rises to just three in 10 when told that the court ruling could impede the president’s ability to prevent a terrorist attack, per a recent Annenberg Public Policy Center poll.

As political scientist Andrew Reeves noted in his 2022 book “No Blank Check,” in which he analyzed decades of public opinion data, the public has consistently “express(ed) low levels of support for presidents acting unilaterally,” and that “even when the president changed, these views shifted only slightly over time.”

Specific expansions of presidential power have been met with large public opposition. President Trump has declared he has the authority to directly control federal agencies that were designed by Congress to be independent from presidents. Two-thirds oppose presidents having this authority, including majorities of Republicans (52%) and Democrats (81%), according to a March 2025 survey by the Program for Public Consultation (PPC). A YouGov poll found just a quarter (24%) of respondents said it is acceptable for the president to “(assert) control over previously independent federal government agencies.”

The March PPC survey also found that majorities of about two in three prefer to keep seven currently independent agencies free from direct presidential control (FCC, FTC, SEC, NLRB, FEC, OSC, and the Federal Reserve’s regulatory arm), including majorities of Republicans in all but one case (the FTC).

The Trump administration has asserted it has the authority to refuse to spend funds allocated by Congress, known as impoundment. In the March PPC survey, 63% opposed presidents having the power to impound funds, with Republicans being roughly divided. A New York Times/Siena poll found a majority opposition to presidents being able to “eliminate government programs enacted by Congress” (54%, with just 21% in favor). A similar majority opposed presidents having the power to “impose tariffs without authorization from Congress.”

The effort to give the president more direct control over the hiring and firing of civil servants is broadly opposed. Over six in 10 Americans oppose the idea of “allowing presidents to fire civil service workers for any reason,” including a 47% plurality of Republicans, according to a June 2024 YouGov poll. A majority find the idea of presidents “dismissing officials because they are perceived as disloyal to the president” unacceptable, per another YouGov poll. Even the more narrow proposal in a recent Executive Order that allows policy-related civil servants to be replaced for any reason under the direction of the president is opposed by a majority (55%) in a PPC survey.

Not only do Americans oppose expanding presidential powers but they favor reining presidents in and giving Congress a greater role. Six in 10 oppose presidents being able to directly change policy, such as through executive order, without Congress voting on them, according to YouGov and Annenberg polls.

Even on national defense — where presidents are typically understood to have the most discretion — the majority of Americans support taking away power from presidents and giving it to Congress. Six in 10 favor requiring congressional approval for military operations initiated by presidents (Republicans 53%, Democrats 62%), according to a 2022 PPC survey. Another bipartisan majority of six in 10 favor requiring congressional approval for presidents making arms sales over $14 million. And a 2019 PPC survey found a bipartisan majority of nearly seven in 10 in favor of requiring congressional approval and a formal declaration of war by Congress in order for a president to use nuclear weapons first in a military engagement.

Efforts to expand presidential power are not unique to President Trump. Over the last few decades, political scientists agree that the balance has shifted toward the presidency, as a result of presidents taking more power or Congress giving it to them.

One may wonder why Americans favor giving Congress more power when Americans express so much dissatisfaction with them. Though the public is frustrated with congressional gridlock and believes it is too responsive to moneyed interests, Americans appear to nonetheless embrace the Founders’ idea that there should be a balance of power and see the office of the presidency as holding too much power.

Steven Kull is director of the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation. Evan Lewitus is a senior research analyst for the Program for Public Consultation. They wrote this column for The Fulcrum, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news platform covering efforts to fix our governing systems.

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Rumors have swirled this past week about the political affiliations of Vance Boelter, the 57-year-old man now facing state and federal charges for the shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses.

This photo made available by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office shows Vance Luther Boelter, the man accused of assassinating the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, as he was arrested late Sunday, June 15, 2025. (Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

One of the most prevalent is that Boelter had ties to Democratic-Farmer-Labor Gov. Tim Walz — and that he may have been a Democrat himself — because of his appointment to a state workforce development board by Walz in 2019.

National conservative social media figures and even Republican President Donald Trump have noted Boelter’s appointment to the Governor’s Workforce Development Board, an advisory body of around 60 members from business, labor groups and state government.

Some, like U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, have implied Boelter aligned with the political left, though later deleted posts after backlash from Democrats, including Minnesota’s U.S. Sen. Tina Smith.

Based on the nature of state board appointments and reports of Boelter’s political background, claims of ties to the DFL are spurious.

First appointed by Gov. Dayton

Boelter, who has a history of voting for Republicans, attending Trump rallies and expressing anti-abortion views, was first appointed to the workforce board by DFL Gov. Mark Dayton in 2016. But his personal political views had no bearing on his appointment to a state board.

“(Board) volunteers are selected without regard to political party or affiliation,” the state Department of Employment and Economic Development said in a statement. “Individuals are not required to declare their political party when applying through the Secretary of State’s Boards & Commissions, and people of all political persuasions serve on them.”

The Minnesota governor’s office says it appoints hundreds of people to more than 130 boards, commissions, task forces and advisory councils every year. Boelter was one of those appointees. Members apply to be on the board through the Minnesota secretary of state’s office.

Thousands serve on the boards, and they don’t have a close connection to the governor’s office or make policy decisions for the state. Boards instead gather input from groups to produce reports to help guide policy-making.

In a 2023 report including Boelter’s name, the board recommended policies including more collaboration between job programs and higher education and more support for immigrant job programs.

Minnesota’s workforce development board exists because of a requirement from the federal government. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act compels the state to have such a body to advise the governor on the state workforce system.

Served with Sen. Hoffman

Boelter was on the workforce board from 2016 to 2023, and during his tenure, he served with many business leaders, labor group representatives, university officials and state lawmakers of both parties, including state Sen. John Hoffman, the DFL lawmaker from Champlin he is accused of shooting.

This combo from photos provided by Minnesota Legislature shows from left, Senator John A. Hoffman and Rep. Melissa Hortman. (Minnesota Legislature / Associated Press)

As of last weekend, investigators were exploring whether Boelter and the victims knew each other, according to Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

“There is certainly some overlap with some public meetings, I will say, with Sen. Hoffman and the individual, but we don’t know the nature of the relationship or if they actually knew each other,” Evans said.

Republicans also have served on the board.

State Sen. Carla Nelson of Rochester remains on the board. Rep. Bernie Perryman, R-St. Augusta, is on the board now, but Rep. Barb Haley, R-Red Wing, served at the same time as Boelter. Lawmakers of both parties from the House and Senate are appointed to the board.

Board members meet in person quarterly and remotely a few other times a year for subcommittees on disability equity and other areas like manufacturing. They occasionally publish reports on workforce and labor issues.

Boelter appears in public meeting records of the board a few times. Records from 2018 and on show he participated through rote actions like seconding a motion to approve previous meeting minutes.

Members of the workforce board are volunteers and only receive compensation upon request, according to Mary Haugen, a spokesperson with DEED. That includes car mileage, parking, $55 per diem, hotels and meals.

Background

When Boelter first joined the workforce development board in 2016, he described himself as an executive at Western Refining, later acquired by Tesoro, a Texas-based oil and gas corporation that also operated convenience stores.

Over the years, his listed affiliation on the board website evolved — first into a “general manager” at Marathon-Speedway, which acquired Tesoro in 2018 and owned the Speedway convenience store chain. Later, his listed affiliation changed to “general manager” with 7-Eleven, which acquired Speedway in 2021.

Boelter had been involved in the convenience store food business for years, according to his LinkedIn profile and other online sources.

At one point, he worked for Greencore, an Ireland-based convenience store food company, which acquired a site in Shakopee in 2014 and exited the U.S. in 2018. In an email, Greencore confirmed he was a former employee. 7-Eleven didn’t respond to multiple emails seeking details of Boelter’s involvement with the company.

Boelter has not been on the workforce development board after his last three-year term expired in 2023. He’s run a private security company with his wife, known as Praetorian Guard Security Services, since 2019.

Boelter once engaged with Minnesota Africans United, a nonprofit supporting African immigrant communities in the state, though the organization said he “was never hired, paid, or contracted by Minnesota Africans United. He has never served in any official (or unofficial) capacity as a representative of our organization,” and participated in a virtual webinar once in 2022.

Boelter’s LinkedIn page lists a bachelor’s degree in international relations from St. Cloud State University and a master’s degree and doctorate of education from Cardinal Stritch University, a defunct Catholic institution in Milwaukee. It also states experience with 7-Eleven; Greencore; Del Monte; Johnsonville Sausage of Wisconsin; and Nestle/Gerber. The precise nature of his work was unclear. The online résumé also lists him as CEO of the Red Lion Group.

Boelter referenced three years of work with the Red Lion Group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and his interest in getting involved in the U.S. food industry again. It’s unclear what the company did.

Boelter faces federal charges in the shooting spree that killed former House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, and her husband, Mark, and injured Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. Boelter visited the homes of two additional lawmakers that same night and had notebooks naming dozens more targets, federal prosecutors said Monday.

A GoFundMe site has been set up for the Hortmans’ children and another for the Hoffmans.

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Today is Saturday, June 21, the 172nd day of 2025. There are 193 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On June 21, 1788, the United States Constitution went into effect as New Hampshire became the required ninth state to ratify it.

Also on this date:

In 1834, Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent for his mechanical reaper.

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In 1893, the first Ferris wheel opened to the public as part of the Chicago World’s Fair.

In 1942, an Imperial Japanese submarine fired shells at Fort Stevens on the Oregon coast, but caused little damage.

In 1954, scientists of the American Cancer Society presented a study to a meeting of the American Medical Association in San Francisco which found that men who regularly smoked cigarettes died, particularly from lung cancer, at a considerably higher rate than non-smokers.

In 1964, civil rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi; their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam six weeks later. (Forty-one years later, on this date in 2005, Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman, was found guilty of manslaughter in their deaths; he was sentenced to 60 years in prison, where he died in January 2018.)

In 1982, a jury in Washington, D.C. found John Hinckley Jr. not guilty by reason of insanity in the shootings of President Ronald Reagan, Press Secretary James Brady, Washington D.C. police office Thomas Delahanty and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy.

In 1989, a sharply divided Supreme Court ruled, in Texas v. Johnson, that burning the American flag as a form of political protest was protected by the First Amendment.

In 1997, the WNBA made its debut as the New York Liberty defeated the host Los Angeles Sparks 67-57.

In 2004, the aircraft SpaceShipOne made the first privately funded human spaceflight.

In 2010, Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to charges of plotting a failed car bombing in New York’s Times Square. (Shahzad was later sentenced to life in prison.)

Today’s Birthdays:

Composer Lalo Schifrin is 93.
Musician Ray Davies (The Kinks) is 81.
Actor Meredith Baxter is 78.
Nobel peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi is 78.
Actor Michael Gross is 78.
Author Ian McEwan is 77.
Musician Nils Lofgren is 74.
Cartoonist Berkeley Breathed is 68.
Country musician Kathy Mattea is 66.
Filmmaker Lana Wachowski is 60.
Rapper-DJ-producer Pete Rock is 55.
Actor Juliette Lewis is 52.
Actor Chris Pratt is 46.
Rock singer Brandon Flowers (The Killers) is 44.
Britain’s Prince William is 43.
Singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey is 40.
Golfer Scottie Scheffler is 29.

The man accused of fatally shooting a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband last weekend had given his wife instructions for a “bailout plan” in the event the family ever needed to flee suddenly, according to an FBI agent.

This photo made available by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office shows Vance Luther Boelter, the man accused of assassinating the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, as he was arrested late Sunday, June 15, 2025. (Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

In an affidavit unsealed Friday, the agent, Terry Getsch, said that the man charged in the shootings, Vance Boelter, and his wife were “preppers,” a term referring to people who believe a catastrophic event is imminent and go to great lengths to prepare for its arrival.

Hours after the attacks early Saturday — which killed state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and wounded state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette — Boelter sent a text message to his wife and children, according to the court document.

“The text stated something to the effect of they should prepare for war, they needed to get out of the house and people with guns may be showing up to the house,” Getsch wrote.

The Hortman killings were part of what authorities said was Boelter’s broader plot to assassinate politicians. And at some point before the shootings, the agent said, Boelter had given his wife a plan to follow in the event of “exigent circumstances.” Part of that plan entailed traveling to his mother-in-law’s residence in Spring Brook, Wis., roughly 75 miles from the Twin Cities.

Boelter’s wife, Jenny, has not been charged with any crime, and the new court filing does not suggest that she and their children knew about a plot to kill politicians.

Boelter has not entered a plea. Katherian Roe, a federal public defender who is representing Boelter, did not respond to an email Friday seeking comment.

As of Friday afternoon, law enforcement officials said they had found no sign that Boelter had accomplices.

“The evidence we have at the moment indicates Boelter acted alone,” Inspector Matt Rabe of the Brooklyn Park police department said in an email. “We are continuing to investigate if he received help after the attacks.”

Both lawmakers in the attack were Democrats. Authorities have said the gunman had a list of additional targets that included dozens of elected officials and some abortion providers.

Boelter has a hearing in federal court next Friday, where he may enter a plea.

Mark Bruley, center, the police chief of Brooklyn Park, speaks with members of the community in Brooklyn Park on Friday, June 20, 2025. (Jenn Ackerman / The New York Times)

On Friday night, residents of the region gathered in a local high school, where law enforcement officers answered questions from the public and Minnesota leaders, including Gov. Tim Walz, reflected on the attacks.

Walz appeared emotional at times as he described how he was feeling, and how the community is feeling.

Gov. Tim Walz speaks to members of the community in Brooklyn Park on Friday, June 20, 2025. (Jenn Ackerman / The New York Times)

“It’s pretty hard, I think, for all of us,” he said, “when we’re running into people, and they’re asking how we’re doing. And my answer now is kind of day by day. This was a grievous wound that Minnesota experienced.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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