Analysis: Even Republicans want a check on Trump, polls indicate

Donald Trump has spent his nearly three weeks as president-elect testing the boundaries of his mandate - to the extent it exists - with the American people and with the Republican Party.

He has challenged GOP senators with unorthodox and controversial Cabinet picks and even argued that he should be able to appoint them without Senate approval. And some in Trump’s party have essentially agreed that the party should do whatever Trump wants, because he won the 2024 election.

“Whatever that is, we need to embrace it,” Rep. Troy E. Nehls (R-Texas) said recently. “All of it. Every single word.”

But that’s clearly not what the American people want. And as notably, it doesn’t even appear to be what Republicans want.

New polling shows that Americans writ large and most Republicans want a check on Trump - even as an extraordinary percentage of the GOP aligns with Nehls’s sentiment.

The polls show Trump is benefiting from a bit of a honeymoon. Americans say they approve of his presidential transition so far, and a majority are at least somewhat optimistic about the four years ahead. They even lean in favor of some of his controversial Cabinet picks (except Matt Gaetz, who withdrew from consideration for attorney general last week).

But that doesn’t mean they want Congress or even congressional Republicans to just bow to Trump’s will.

A CBS News-YouGov poll this weekend, for instance, shows three-quarters of Americans disagree with Trump’s claim that he should be able to appoint leaders of government agencies without Senate hearings or approval. And a majority of Republicans say the Senate should hold hearings and vote on whether to confirm those leaders.

Crucially, the poll asked this question two different ways. One question noted to half of its sample that the Constitution gives the Senate the power of advice and consent - that the Senate is constitutionally charged with confirming or rejecting a nominee. The question asked to the other half did not provide that background.

But the verdict was basically the same, regardless of how the question was asked. While 75 percent disagreed that Trump should be able to unilaterally appoint people when the Constitution was invoked, 76 percent disagreed when it was not. Republican opposition was at 53 percent when the Constitution was invoked and 55 percent when it was not.

But it also appears that Americans - and even Republicans - want Congress to stand up to Trump when they disagree.

The poll asked Americans straight up whether congressional Republicans should “support whatever Donald Trump wants” - as Nehls posited - or should support his policies when they agree “but push back when they disagree.”

The split was similar. Americans said 77 percent to 23 percent that congressional Republicans should push back when they disagree with Trump’s policies, and even Republicans sided with pushing back, 56-44.

The fact that nearly half of Republicans support bypassing the Senate with Trump’s Cabinet picks - and say congressional Republicans should just fall in line regardless of what Trump wants - is remarkable. And it reinforces the fact that much of the GOP is not terribly interested in constitutional checks on Trump, which comes through in plenty of other polling.

(For instance, earlier this year a huge majority of Republicans supported the idea of Trump being dictator for a day, and majorities of the GOP also approved of the notion of Trump ruling with less interference from Congress and the courts.)

That looms large as we head for what could be a series of clashes between Trump and the Republicans who might dare to stand up to him on matters such as his Cabinet picks and some of his most controversial proposals. It’s clear that a significant and noisy portion of the party just wants Congress to bow to Trump. But that’s far from the consensus view.