No Blank Check: The Origins and Consequences of Public Antipathy towards Presidential Power
Research Question
Why are Americans often skeptical of presidential power, and how do these attitudes shape executive governance and democratic accountability?
Main Finding
The American public does not offer presidents a ‘blank check’ to act unilaterally. Instead, support for presidential power is conditional–-shaped by partisanship, trust in government, the policy domain, and the political context. Even partisans often resist expansions of power when used in disfavored ways, suggesting the presence of principled constraints in public opinion.
Research Design
The book integrates multiple original survey experiments with observational data on public attitudes toward executive action across a range of policy areas. It combines cross-sectional analysis, experimental manipulation, and longitudinal perspectives to assess when and why Americans support or oppose strong presidential action.
Data Employed
The authors use a rich set of nationally representative surveys and survey experiments fielded between 2017 and 2020. These include measures of support for unilateral action, partisan and ideological identification, trust in government, and contextual cues like crisis or opposition from Congress.
Research Areas
Presidential Power, Public Opinion, Democratic Accountability, Survey Experiments, Partisanship
Citation
@book{noblankcheck,
author = {Reeves, Andrew and Rogowski, Jon C.},
title = {No Blank Check: The Origins and Consequences of Public Antipathy towards Presidential Power},
publisher = {Cambridge University Press},
year = {2022},
}