impact on the sleeping public. Polls show very little change in opinions about his actions. No wonder destroying our democracy is so easy.
A GOP-appointed judge fears Americans are complacent about Trump. Polling backs him up
Analysis by Aaron Blake, CNN
Tue September 30, 2025
In the most extraordinary judicial rebuke of President Donald Trump’s second term, a Ronald Reagan-appointed judge on Tuesday cast him as a lawless president who endorsed a “truly scandalous and unconstitutional suppression of free speech.”
But as striking as that was, so was US District Judge William G. Young’s pessimism about the American public. The judge predicted that, despite his findings, there wouldn’t “be any meaningful public outcry.”
“I fear President Trump believes the American people are so divided that today they will not stand up, fight for, and defend our most precious constitutional values so long as they are lulled into thinking their own personal interests are not affected,” Young wrote.
“Is he correct?” Young concluded, seemingly challenging Americans to stand up.
New polling suggests Young might have a point.
In fact, despite Trump’s increasingly brazen takeover of the federal government, polls show few Americans have changed their opinions on the matter in recent months.
Many people view Trump as going too far – around half of Americans – but the needle doesn’t seem to be moving much.
A New York Times-Siena College poll released this week shows 46% of registered voters said Trump’s “actions go so far that they are a unique threat to our system of government.” And a slight majority of independents (52%) agreed.
Those are significant numbers. But they’re also virtually unchanged since April, about five months ago.
Back then, the Times-Siena poll showed 48% of registered voters and 54% of independents said Trump’s overreach was a “unique threat.”
The new Times-Siena poll also showed similar numbers felt specific Trump actions were going “too far,” compared to April. Back then, between 52% and 56% of registered voters said Trump was going too far with his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts, tariffs and immigration enforcement; today between 49% and 53% said the same of Trump’s pressure on corporations and colleges, as well as his use of the National Guard in US cities.
The two polls tested different issues, but it’s telling that the “too far” numbers haven’t increased.
(The only issue on which a strong majority said Trump was overreaching today was his pressure campaign against media companies. After even some prominent Republicans criticized the administration’s threats against Jimmy Kimmel, 61% of voters said Trump has gone too far in that area.)
The Times-Siena data echoes other surveys this month showing relatively little movement on such questions.
A Washington Post-Ipsos poll last week showed the percentage of Americans saying Trump has “gone beyond his authority” (62%) virtually unchanged from April (60%) and up only a little since early into his second term in February (57%).
And an AP-NORC poll, also from this month, showed the percentage saying Trump has gone “too far” on issues like immigration (49%), tariffs (60%) and his broader use of presidential power (59%) virtually unchanged from April.
Again, these numbers aren’t anything to sneeze at. Majorities across these surveys think Trump is going too far on many issues, and 6 in 10 say that about tariffs, his pressure on the media and his broader use of power.
And this isn’t normal. The new Post-Ipsos poll, for example, showed just 34% of Americans said Joe Biden went beyond his authority as president. So this is a very much a Trump-specific thing. And it could still matter politically – particularly in the 2026 midterm elections, when voters could install Democrats as a check on Trump.
But it’s notable that these numbers haven’t really moved, even as Trump’s provocations and power grabs have proliferated. Those who view him as a threat to democracy are largely people who came to that conclusion early, and their side hasn’t won many (if any) converts.
The danger for Trump’s opponents is in the situation Young spotlighted – one where maybe people think Trump has gone too far, but they just accept it as the new normal and don’t sustain a fuss over it. Trump’s strategy seems to lie in constantly pushing the envelope and testing his limits, all the while moving the line further and further.
And there’s one politician, at least, who seems to think we might be getting to the point where Americans are just throwing their hands up.
While speaking to generals and admirals in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday, Trump reflected on having unilaterally sought to rename the Defense Department as the “Department of War.” (The name can’t be changed legally unless Congress acts, and it hasn’t yet. But the Pentagon has embraced the name.)
“I thought it would be met with fury on the left, but they’re sort of giving up, I must be honest with you,” the president said. “They’ve had it with Trump. They’ve been after me for so many years now. Here we are.”
He added: “No, they’ve given up.”