(The Center Square) – Only 1 in 10 Americans believe the current checks and balances for the three branches of government are very effective, says a national poll released Thursday in North Carolina.

Sampling April 10-17 of 1,000 adults by the Elon University Poll found 32% said it is somewhat or very ineffective. In answering who has too much power, 46% said the executive branch, 27% the judiciary and 19% the legislative branch.

“Americans are clearly questioning whether the rule of law and our constitutional structure are built to withstand the pressures of the current political moment,” said Zak Kramer, dean of Elon University School of Law. “There’s a lot of uncertainty about how these disputes will turn out, and things are moving fast, so we shouldn’t be surprised that most Americans view these questions through a heavily polarized lens.”

Tuesday will be the 100th day in office for President Donald Trump. Through Tuesday of this week, nonpartisan law and policy journal Just Security documented 206 legal challenges to his administration’s actions. The New York Times, the Elon Poll said, has found 98 judicial rulings at a minimum temporarily pausing some of the administration’s efforts.

Trump’s approval ratings, according to the Elon poll, have gone from positive to negative since a Feb. 6-11 polling just weeks into his second term. His job performance is approved by 41% and disapproved by 47%; in February it was 45% approved and 41% disapproved.

Party lines are strong, according to the poll. His executive orders are opposed by 83% of Democrats and approved by 73% of Republicans.

Survey answers were split nearly evenly on the U.S. Supreme Court – 51% confident, 49% little or no confidence. Only 21% believe it is balanced when considering conservative and liberal.

Regarding the Department of Justice, 69% believe a president should not influence cases. Within that principle, support is from Democrats (83%), independents (65%) and Republicans (61%). Only 38% believe Trump when he says the department’s processes were used against him; 43% think he is wrong.

Elon University said 1,149 adults age 18 and older were interviewed and matched down to the 1,000 sample. Margin of error is +/- 3.58%. The university funds and operates the poll “as the neutral, nonbiased information resource.”

(The Center Square) – A plurality of Americans feel the country’s  immigration policies have improved since President Donald Trump took office, according to a new poll.

The Center Square Voter’s Voice poll released Thursday showed that 47% of those surveyed say federal policy on immigration and border security has “gotten better,” compared to 32% who say it has “gotten worse.” 

The poll found that 13% say there has been no change, and 8% are unsure. 

The same poll found that 42% of registered voters say Trump’s border policies are “just right,” while 8% say they are “too soft.” Meanwhile, 46% say the policies are “too harsh.” 

The Center Square’s Voter’s Voice poll, conducted with Noble Predictive Insights from April 15-18, queried 2,527 registered voters. Of those respondents, 1,089 were Republicans, 1,187 were Democrats, and 251 were “True Independents,” which are independents who do not lean to one party or the other. The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll is one of only six national tracking polls in the United States.

Notably, Americans’ focus on immigration has declined as the border crisis has subsided. The Center Square’s poll found that only 26% of registered voters cite immigration as one of their top three most important issues. During last year’s presidential campaign, voters cited the border crisis with inflation as their top issues.

In March 2024, The Center Square’s poll found that 44% of Americans cited illegal immigration as one of their top 3 concerns. 

“One of our most striking findings: Immigration has gone from a top tier issue to a second tier issue,” David Byler, head of research at Noble Predictive Insights, which conducted the poll, told The Center Square. “People trust Trump on border security. They think he’s doing a solid job, so they’re thinking about the border less and focusing on other issues. In a funny way, Trump could take his best issue off the table. If people think he’s solved the border crisis, they’ll stop thinking on it – and start judging him on issues where he doesn’t poll quite as well.” 

Trump kicked off a nationwide deportation effort led by Border Czar Tom Homan, though a flurry of legal challenges have threatened to slow or even stop that progress. 

“In the first 50 days of the Trump Administration, Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) has made 32,809 enforcement arrests,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in March. “To put this figure into perspective, in the entire fiscal year 2024, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations made 33,242 of these at-large arrests.” 

Besides deportations, Trump has taken steps to prevent illegal aliens from receiving federal benefits and to shut down the border.

Illegal immigration at the southern border has plummeted since Trump took office. 

“Trump is at his most popular when he’s taking action on immigration,” Byler said. “He cares about this issue more than almost any other – and people can tell. This is especially true on  border security. He understands where the public is on ideas like the wall and illegal immigration. And, as the chief executive, he can make a lot of changes without having to fight Congress. It’s not hard to see why this is his best issue in our poll.” 

Immigration was a top issue for the president on the campaign trail. He repeatedly promised to carry out the largest deportation effort in history and blasted his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, for her work on immigration during the Biden administration, when illegal immigration exploded to unprecedented levels. 

Trump also fares well on the transgender issue, with a plurality saying the federal policies on that issue have improved. That was another major campaign issue for Republicans, who criticized Democrats for allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports. 

On other issues, Trump does worse. For instance, tariffs and free speech are both areas where respondents said things have gotten worse. 

The survey has a +/- 2.0% margin of error. 

(The Center Square) — The Louisiana House is weighing two bills by Rep. Ken Brass, D-Ascension, that would significantly increase taxes on vaping and smokeless tobacco products, aiming to curb youth use and fund cessation efforts..

House Bill 517, which has passed committee and is now headed to the House floor, would replace the state’s current tax on vaping products — 0.15 cents per milliliter of nicotine liquid — with a 33% tax on the invoice price of those products, starting Jan. 1, 2026. Retailers and wholesalers would be required to submit an inventory of their stock by Feb. 1, 2026, based on their holdings at the end of 2025.

Another bill by Brass would raise the excise tax on smokeless tobacco from 20% to 33% of the invoice price and dedicate 20% of the proceeds to a newly created Youth Cessation and Prevention Fund. That money would be divided among cancer research centers and the state Department of Health for evidence-based anti-tobacco programs. 

Brass told the House Ways and Means Committee that the rising use of vaping among children makes the issue urgent.

“Nearly one in five middle school students are currently vaping,” Brass said. “That’s a dramatic increase from just a few years ago — back in 2015, only 4.8% of middle schoolers vaped. Now it’s 18.4%. Among high school students, it’s jumped to over 30%.”

He warned that early nicotine use can have lifelong consequences.

“Most youth try tobacco between ages 12 and 13,” Brass said. “That early exposure has lasting effects — increased risk of depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. This is not just a school issue — it’s a statewide public health and economic issue. Smoking costs Louisiana billions in health care and productivity losses.”

But some Republicans questioned the strategy of using taxes as a deterrent.

“What I’m hearing is we have all these people breaking rules, and we’re going to fix it by making it more expensive,” said Rep. Roger Wilder, R-Livingston. “If you’re vaping in school, that’s already against school rules and the law for anyone under 21. Are schools even serious about enforcement?”

Wilder argued that without stronger action at the school or criminal justice level, the tax might not be an effective deterrent.

“Do we have a bill in education or criminal justice to actually address this where it’s happening—on the ground, in schools?” he asked. “I agree with the intent. I’m just not sure it’s going to be a real deterrent.”

Rep. Jay Galle, R-St. Tammany, echoed those concerns.

“Addictions are rarely deterred by an increase in price,” Galle said. “I understand this is a sin tax, but again, price alone rarely changes behavior.”

Brass defended the tax increases as one part of a larger effort to reduce nicotine use and shift the economic burden away from the state.

If the bills are signed into law, the vape tax increase would take effect Jan. 1, 2026, and the smokeless tobacco tax increase would begin July 1, 2025.