The Law Public Opinion and the President’s Use of Executive Orders: The Long-Run Impact of Unilateral Powers, 1953-2012

Abstract

The U.S. president may act unilaterally in issuing executive orders within the office’s inherent powers. To date, no cross-time study has explored the relationship of his doing so with subsequent observed approval ratings. We do so here and estimate the relationship between the president’s issuing of executive orders and subsequent job approval ratings at the aggregate level. While structural factors continue to explain long-run approval rates, the president’s use of unilateral powers also is associated through time with those rates, even when controlling for external factors such as wars and scandals. Thus, while some researchers may suspect that executive orders may undermine long-term confidence in the institution of the presidency, we find that such uses of unilateral power may conditionally lead to gains in long-term public opinion of the president.