An Update from the Center for North Carolina Politics & Public Service
With the US Supreme Court allowing the Trump administration to begin reductions in staffing in the Department of Education, a recent Catawba College–YouGov poll finds that while most North Carolinians strongly agree on the importance of democratic principles, partisan divides emerge sharply when it comes to limiting presidential power.
The survey, conducted June 10–25, 2025, by YouGov on behalf of Catawba College’s Center for North Carolina Politics & Public Service, asked 1,000 North Carolina residents to assess the importance of nineteen core principles related to American governance and checks and balances. While more than 80 percent of respondents agreed on the importance of most principles, three of the lowest-ranked principles—each concerning the ability of Congress or the judiciary to check presidential power—revealed striking partisan gaps.
For example, only 71 percent of respondents overall said it is important that “judges are able to effectively limit executive power.” But that principle was supported by 86 percent of Democrats and 73 percent of independents—compared to just 55 percent of Republicans. Similarly, only two-thirds of Republicans agreed it was important for Congress to limit executive power, compared to 85 percent of Democrats and 80 percent of independents.
“These findings expose deep partisan divides on one of the cornerstones of our constitutional system: checks and balances,” said Dr. Michael Bitzer, director of the Center. “Especially in the context of Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to proceed with significant staffing cuts in the Department of Education, these attitudes raise real questions about how Americans view the separation of powers in practice.”
That ruling allows the executive branch to reduce nearly 1,400 employees from the Department of Education—a move critics argue expands presidential power at the expense of congressional authority.
“This is precisely the kind of constitutional tension the Founders envisioned,” Bitzer said. “Congress establishes, empowers, and potentially eliminates federal departments, but the Trump administration has sought to assert greater control by downsizing and defunding them. This constitutional power-conflict is at the heart of our governing system, with each branch seeking to expand its share of governing power and authority of the others.”
While views on presidential limits divided sharply along party lines, the poll also revealed broad agreement on other core democratic values. North Carolinians rated 16 of 19 principles as important to American democracy, with bipartisan consensus on 13 of them.
The most widely supported principles focused on transparency and accountability:
- 92% agreed that “laws should be clear, accessible to all, and predictable.”
- 90% said “government officials should be open and transparent when they make decisions.”
- 90% supported the idea that “government officials are accountable for their actions and can be legally sanctioned for misconduct.”
Other highly ranked principles included nonpartisan law enforcement, the rule of law prevailing over arbitrary decisions, and the government’s responsibility to prevent politically motivated violence or intimidation.
This release is the second in a three-part series exploring North Carolinians’ views on democratic principles. A previous release examined attitudes toward rights and liberties; the final release will focus on civic participation.
Additional Notable Findings:
- Political independents rated some principles higher than partisans, including 90% agreement that “law enforcement investigations of public officials or their associates are free from political influence.”
- 90% of 2024 Harris voters said it was important for the legislature to effectively limit executive power, compared to just 64% of Trump voters.
- Similarly, 93% of Harris voters emphasized judicial checks on executive power, compared to 52% of Trump voters.
- However, when asked about preventing misuse of government agencies for political purposes, both Trump and Harris voters showed near-identical support (91% and 92%, respectively).
- 88% of both Democrats and Republicans agreed that “government statistics and data should be produced by experts who are not influenced by political considerations.”
- 95% of Harris voters and 79% of Trump voters said it was important for elected branches to respect judicial independence.
The survey’s margin of error is ±3.56 percentage points overall, with larger margins for subgroups. Results are informative and not determinative.
