No Deal: Donald Trump's Leadership of Congress Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Abstract Donald Trump entered office with aspirations for transformational policy change, much of which would have to be approved by Congress. So far, he and his supporters have been disappointed. Despite the presidents many unique characteristics, we can employ the framework of the presidents strategic position to explain the presidents lack of success. The presidents opportunity structure was mixed. Lacking a mandate but fortunate to serve in a unified government, Trump overestimated his public support, which was low, and Republican cohesion, which was imperfect. He also underestimated the impact of partisan polarization and Democratic opposition, which was strong. Moreover, the president lacked a strategic plan of his own, had few substantive proposals, and demonstrated little skill in garnering support.

published proceedings

  • FORUM-A JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN CONTEMPORARY POLITICS

altmetric score

  • 14

author list (cited authors)

  • Edwards, G.

citation count

  • 6

complete list of authors

  • Edwards, George CIII

publication date

  • October 2017

published in