Reuters/Ipsos poll: Trump’s support rating declines; many are concerned about his use of power

A Reuters/Ipsos poll that ended on Monday revealed that Americans were becoming cautious of President Donald Trump’s attempts to increase his authority, which caused his public approval rating to dwindle to its lowest level since his return to the White House.

Trump’s performance as president was seen as good by 42% of those surveyed in the six-day survey, compared to 43% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll three weeks prior and 47% in the hours following his inauguration on January 20.

Since taking office, Trump has issued dozens of executive orders that have increased his power over government agencies and private organizations like legal companies and universities, leaving his political rivals in disbelief.

Even though Trump’s approval rating is still higher than it was for the majority of his Democratic predecessor’s presidency, the Reuters/Ipsos poll indicates that many Americans are uneasy with his actions, which include punishing universities he believes to be too liberal and appointing himself as the board chair of the Kennedy Center, a significant theater and cultural institution in Washington.

Out of 4,306 respondents, 83% said that the president of the United States must follow the decisions of federal courts, regardless of his personal preferences. Officials in the Trump administration may be charged with criminal contempt for disobeying a federal judge’s order that stopped the deportation of suspected members of a Venezuelan gang who were not given the opportunity to contest their removal.

One-third of Republicans were among the 57% who disagreed with the statement that “it’s okay for a U.S. president to withhold funding from universities if the president doesn’t agree with how the university is run.”

Trump, who has claimed that colleges are not doing enough to combat antisemitism on campus, has blocked large amounts of government funds allocated to American universities, including over $2 billion for Harvard University alone.

The president shouldn’t be in charge of important cultural institutions like national theaters and museums, according to a similar percentage of respondents (66%). The Smithsonian Institution, a large museum and research complex that is a prominent exhibition place for U.S. history and culture, was instructed by Trump last month to remove “improper” ideas.

According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, Americans who disapproved of Trump’s performance outweighed those who approved on every subject polled, ranging from immigration and inflation to taxation and the rule of law. In his strongest area of popularity, immigration, 46% of respondents disapproved of Trump’s performance, while 45% approved.

A margin of error of almost two percentage points was present in the survey.
A third of Republicans were among the 59% of respondents who said that America’s reputation was deteriorating internationally.

According to three-quarters of those surveyed, Trump should not seek a third term in office, a course of action that he has stated he would want to take despite being prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. Of those surveyed, 53% of Republicans believed Trump should not run for a third term.