In March 2026, AllSides and ActiVote collaborated on a survey on executive actions with 10 questions, each with 5 possible answers. The poll was processed using ActiVote’s standard polling methodology. The average sample size was 969 per question (ranging from a minimum of 623 to a maximum of 1667) leading to an average expected error of about 3.1%. We invite you to participate in this survey if you have not already.
The survey focused on actions taken by the Trump administration without consulting Congress and could be split in three main categories: (1) Military and National Security, (2) Immigration and (3) Domestic & Economic Policy.
The following table shows for each of the 10 questions overall approval vs. disapproval and approval by the (moderate right) vs. disapproval by the (moderate) left. Bluer cells indicate a relatively favorable result for Democrats, while redder cells indicate relatively favorable results for Republicans.
The Federal Sex Definition Order with a +23% favorability is the best news for the current administration regarding all actions surveyed. It suggests that this is a losing issue for the Left, in line with findings after the 2024 Presidential election that the Republicans won votes on the sex vs. gender debate.
The Asylum Eligibility Tightening has an overall +1% favorability, while being the most polarized topic of this survey: 92% of the right approves it while 92% of the left disapproves of it.
There are two topics that are overall deeply underwater: Tariff Executive Action is -25%, which likely reflects the fact that Tariffs hit many Americans in their wallet; and Executive Action on BirthRight Citizenship is -19%, which likely reflects the fact that many Americans believe this is simply in conflict with the 14th Amendment to the Constitution (which seems where the Supreme Court is leaning given recent oral arguments).
Despite these outliers, the average result is telling: 42% average approval over these topics and 50% average disapproval rating, which is quite similar (even slightly better for the Trump administration) than the overall presidential approval ratings as of March 2026: ActiVote’s latest presidential approval poll showed 42% approval and 55% disapproval. Also, the average support for these actions from the right is a solid 80% suggesting that his base isn’t generally worried about most of these actions, while disapproval from the left is just as predictable at 92%, opposing all actions by the administration covered in our survey.
In other words: the Trump Administration “going it alone” as a way of governing neither earns them extra support nor does it lead to specific disapproval from the nation. Therefore, this survey suggests that executive action, as taken by this Administration is just as (un)popular as anything else the administration does.
In the next 10 sections we present the results per individual question.
U.S. Strikes on Iranian Nuclear Facilities
The survey (answered by 1177 people) asked: “Which of the following best reflects your opinion on the strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities?” and provided 5 answers:
- Strongly approve the strikes
- Somewhat approve the strikes
- Mixed / unsure
- Somewhat disapprove the strikes
- Strongly disapprove the strikes
A small majority of 51% disapprove of the strikes while 41% approved. The country is polarized on this topic along the political spectrum:
The left is almost unanimous (96%) in its disapproval of the strikes, while 81% of the moderate left agrees with them. On the moderate right and right 76% approve of the strikes, with the center 46% against and 41% for.
Capture of Nicolás Maduro
The survey (answered by 1183 people) asked: “Which of the following best reflects your opinion of the January 2026 raid that captured Nicolás Maduro?” and provided 5 answers:
- Strongly approve the raid
- Somewhat approve the raid
- Mixed / unsure
- Somewhat disapprove the raid
- Strongly disapprove the raid
Slightly more Americans (48%) disapprove of the raid than those that approve (44%). The country is polarized on this topic along the political spectrum:
The left is unanimous in their disapproval (98%), while the moderate left (84%) agrees with them. The moderate right is highly supportive with 79%, while the right approves with an even larger majority of 83%. The center approves by a small margin of 48% vs. 41%.
Lethal Counternarcotics Naval Interdictions
The survey (answered by 997 people) asked: “Which of the following best reflects your opinion on the use of lethal force in counternarcotics naval operations?” and provided 5 answers:
- Strongly support using lethal force
- Somewhat support using lethal force
- Mixed / unsure
- Somewhat oppose using lethal force
- Strongly oppose using lethal force
A small majority of 52% opposes the actions while 42% support the actions. The country is polarized on this topic along the political spectrum:
The left unanimously (98%) opposes these actions, and a large majority (88%) of the moderate left agrees. The moderate right (80%) and right (87%) in large majority support the actions, while the center in majority are against the actions by 50% vs. 38%.
Border Emergency Declaration
The survey (answered by 1191 people) asked: “Which of the following best reflects your opinion on the border emergency actions?” and provided 5 possible answers:
- Strongly approve the declaration and expansion
- Somewhat approve the declaration and expansion
- Mixed / unsure
- Somewhat disapprove the declaration and expansion
- Strongly disapprove the declaration and expansion
A 50% majority disapproves of the actions, while 45% approve of the actions. The country is polarized on this topic along the political spectrum:
The left disapproves unanimously (99%) of the actions, while the moderate left in large majority (86%) agrees with them. The moderate right (82%) and the right (88%), however, approve of the actions. The center leans slightly towards the right: 46% approve, while 43% disapprove.
Executive Action on Birthright Citizenship
The survey (answered by 643 people) asked: “Which of the following best reflects your opinion on the executive birthright citizenship action?” and provided 5 possible answers:
- Strongly approve the restrictions
- Somewhat approve the restrictions
- Mixed / unsure
- Somewhat disapprove the restrictions
- Strongly disapprove the restrictions
A 56% majority disapproves of the actions, while 37% approve of the actions. The country is polarized on this topic along the political spectrum:
The left (100%) and the moderate left (95%) are unanimous about their disapproval of this action. The moderate right (69%) and the right (85%) approve of the action. The center is against the action 59% vs. 28%.
Asylum Eligibility Tightening
The survey (answered by 643 people) asked: “Which of the following statements best reflects your opinion on asylum eligibility tightening?” and provided 5 possible answers:
- Support even stronger rules than enacted in February 2025
- Strongly support the stricter rules
- Somewhat support the stricter rules
- Prefer to revert back to the previous rules
- Prefer less strict rules than those before the rule tightening
A large 48% minority disapproves of the stricter rules, while 49% approve of some form of stricter rules. The country is polarized on this topic along the political spectrum:
The left is almost unanimous (96%) in their disapproval of the new rules, and 88% of the moderate left agrees with the left. Conversely, 92% of both the right and moderate right support stricter rules.
Federal Sex Definition Order
The survey (answered by 1667 people) asked: “Which of the following best reflects your opinion on the biological sex-definition actions?” and provided 5 possible answers:
- Federal policy should use a strictly biological definition of sex
- Federal policy should mostly use biological sex, with limited exceptions
- Federal policy should use a mixed approach (context-dependent)
- Federal policy should mostly recognize gender identity, with limited exceptions
- Federal policy should recognize gender identity broadly across federal programs
A majority of 56% believes that sex should mostly or strictly be defined biologically, while 33% believes that gender should be the leading criteria. The country is polarized on this topic along the political spectrum:
The left is nearly unanimous (89%) that gender should be the key trait used in definition. The moderate left thinks differently with just 56% supporting gender as the key trait. Centrists (67%), the moderate right (95%) and the right (95%) all believe that biological definitions should take precedence.
Tariff Executive Action
The survey (answered by 623 people) asked: “Which of the following best reflects your opinion on executive action for tariff expansions?” and provided 5 possible answers:
- Expand the tariffs further
- Keep most of the tariffs in place
- Keep some and roll back some
- Roll back most of the tariffs
- Roll back the tariffs entirely
A majority of 55% would like to roll back most or all tariffs. Only 30% would like to keep the tariffs in place or further expand them. The country is polarized on this topic along the political spectrum:
The left (99%) and moderate left (95%) unanimously want most or all tariffs rolled back. The right (65%) and moderate right (54%) are somewhat supportive of the tariffs, while the center is 54%-26% against them.
Civil Service Reclassification
The survey (answered by 864 people) asked: “Which of the following best reflects your opinion on the Schedule F-style reclassification?” and provided 5 possible answers:
- Expand it significantly (many more roles at-will)
- Expand it somewhat (some additional roles at-will)
- Keep it limited (small, clearly defined set)
- Scale it back (fewer roles than planned)
- Eliminate it (restore prior protections)
A small majority (51%) would like to reduce the number of at-will roles, while 33% favors doing more than proposed. The country is polarized on this topic along the political spectrum:
The left (96%) and moderate left (85%) want to reduce the scope significantly or restore the previous situation. The moderate right (58%) and the right (77%) are supportive of the reclassification. The center is more opposed (55%) than supportive (23%) of it.
Unleashing American Energy Order
The survey (answered by 674 people) asked: “Which of the following statements best reflects your opinion on the domestic energy executive order?” and provided 5 possible answers:
- Reduce regulations much more
- Reduce regulations somewhat more
- Keep current balance
- Keep more protections, roll back fewer
- Strengthen protections and slow rollbacks
A majority of 56% wants stronger protections instead of reduced regulations, which is supported by 42%. The country is polarized on this topic along the political spectrum:
The left (99%) and moderate left (94%) would like to see stronger protections for the environment instead of less regulation, while the moderate right (79%) and right (91%) support the changes or would like to see even more action.
Appendix A – Survey Content
Each of the participants was provided with optional background information on each of these policy topics before responding. We encourage you to review the survey in detail if you have questions on what each participant read.
For each of the questions we have looked at the overall opinion of all survey takers as well as the split based on political leanings, distinguishing between the left, moderate left, center, moderate right and the right, each representing 20% of the overall population.
Appendix B – ActiVote Polling Methodology
ActiVote collects survey responses from survey takers through the ActiVote app, both available on web and smartphone (the vast majority of participants in this survey used the web version).
The survey responses are weighted based on various characteristics to ensure the sample reflects the opinion of the American public at large. Feel free to review ActiVote’s polling methodology. More information about ActiVote’s polls can be found at ActiVote’s polling page.
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