Citizen Evaluation of Unilateral Presidential Power via the Lens of Partisanship

• In Event: Unilateral Power and the Public Presidency

Abstract

In today’s age of partisanship and polarization it seems that citizens’ co-party president can do no wrong while an opposite-party president is vilified for every single decision made. Every unilateral action taken by a president is either praised or excoriated, depending on which party you belong to. Do citizens actually care about the underlying power presidents are utilizing or is the factor that really matters the party of the president taking the action? Using survey data, this paper builds upon the provocative work of Christenson & Kriner (2020) and Reeves & Rogowski (2022) with respect to public perceptions of presidential power to see how public opinion of various unilateral powers utilized by the chief executive are filtered through the lens of partisanship. By drilling down to see which is more powerful, partisanship or concern about presidential power, we will better understand citizens’ relationship to the actions their presidents take.

Author

• Stewart Ulrich, University of Georgia