Respondents were informed that the FCC, “regulates communications across radio, television, and the internet, “ and that “Its mission is to ensure that communication services in the country are reliable and accessible to everyone.” They were also told its key functions, including its regulation of content and ability to revoke licenses, fraud prevention, promotion of competition, and coordination of emergency alert systems.

A bipartisan majority of 66% favor keeping the FCC independent from direct Presidential control, including 52% of Republicans, 79% of Democrats and 74% of independents.

Respondents were informed that the FTC’s “mission is to make sure businesses follow fair market rules and do not harm consumers or other companies.” They were also told its key functions, including to prevent fraud, prevent anti-competitive activity, and work to protect consumers’ personal data.

A bipartisan majority of 66% favor keeping the FTC independent from direct Presidential control, including 79% of Democrats and 78% of independents. Republicans are divided, with 50% in favor of independence, and 49% in favor of putting the FTC under Presidential control.

Respondents were informed that the SEC “oversees and regulates financial markets, including the stock market. It was created after the stock market crash of 1929 that led to the Great Depression.” They were also told its key functions, including to prevent stock market crashes, prevent fraud and insider trading, and promote transparency.

A bipartisan majority of 67% favor keeping the SEC independent from direct Presidential control, including 54% of Republicans, 79% of Democrats and 72% of independents.

Respondents were informed that the NLRB’s main functions are to enforce laws that protect workers from being punished for collective bargaining, unionization, or striking, that it supervises worker elections, and helps resolve disputes between workers, unions and employers

A bipartisan majority of 65% favor keeping the NLRB independent from direct Presidential control, including 52% of Republicans, 75% of Democrats and 79% of independents.

Respondents were informed that the Federal Reserve, “is the central bank of the United States,” and that, “Its mission is to promote a stable economy by managing the country’s money supply and banking system.” They were told that they would only be evaluating the regulatory functions of the Federal Reserve (not its interest rate setting functions), including its regulation and monitoring of banks to prevent risking banking practices, and its responses to financial crises via emergency support.

A bipartisan majority of 67% favor keeping the Federal Reserve’s regulatory functions independent from direct Presidential control, including 53% of Republicans, 80% of Democrats and 74% of independents.

Respondents were informed that the Federal Election Commission’s main functions are to enforce rules about campaign finance, and promote transparency in campaign donations and spending.

A bipartisan majority of 69% favor keeping the FEC independent from direct Presidential control, including 57% of Republicans, 79% of Democrats and 78% of independents.

Respondents were informed that the Office of Special Counsel is different from the other agencies they have been evaluating, because it is led by a single director, rather than a group of commissioners. They were informed that it, “investigates and enforces rules about federal workers in the Executive Branch.” Its main functions, they were told, are to protect the merit-based system of the federal workforce, protect whistleblowers, and limit political activity by federal employees while on the job.

A bipartisan majority of 67% favor keeping the OSC independent from direct Presidential control, including 55% of Republicans, 78% of Democrats and 73% of independents.

Respondents were informed that, currently, only Congress has the authority to create agencies and decide whether they are independent from direct Presidential control, and that an agency’s independence can only be removed if Congress passes a law to do so. They were told there is debate over whether Presidents should instead have the authority to remove the independence of agencies and put them under direct Presidential control, without any Congressional action.

A large bipartisan majority of 67% favors Congress continuing to have sole authority over the ability to remove an agency’s independence, by passing a new law that the President would need to sign. This includes 52% of Republicans, 81% of Democrats and 73% of independents.

A majority of 63% favor the current system, which requires Presidents to get Congress approval to modify spending, including 80% of Democrats and 69% of independents. 

Among Republicans, a small majority of 53% favor the President having the power to override spending bills that have passed into law and direct Federal agencies to not spend the money. However, there are demographic differences between Republicans,  with majorities of those aged 50 and older, and those in the South, in favor of keeping spending authority with Congress (xx% and xx%, respectively).

Respondents were informed that, for nearly a century, rules have been in place that protect federal workers from being fired for reasons other than failure to do their job, and require that new workers be hired through a competitive process based on skills and experience. They were introduced to a proposal to, “change a significant number of federal positions–ones related to policies–so that the President can direct that: applicants can be hired without going through the standard competitive process, and workers in those positions can more easily be fired.” This proposal is based on the Schedule Career/Policy executive order recently put forward, which mirrors the previous Schedule F order.

A majority of 55% oppose the proposal to make it easier for Presidents to fire and replace civil servants, including 71% of Democrats and 66% of independents. A majority of Republicans are in favor (63%).