By Michael Bitzer
With continuing U.S. military action involving Iran, the question of who should authorize military force—the president or Congress—has once again returned to the forefront of American politics.
But where do North Carolinians stand on the division of governing authority over war powers?
In August 2025, the Catawba-YouGov Survey posed a series of questions about governing authority and constitutionalism to 1,000 North Carolinians.*
Among the governing authorities and powers in the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 states “The Congress shall have Power…To declare War … To raise and support Armies…(and) To provide and maintain a Navy.” In Article 2, Section 2, the Constitution states “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States….”
In the survey, respondents were asked the following question:
How important is it that the president must seek authority from Congress to engage the U.S. military against another nation?
Respondents could select extremely, very, somewhat, not very, or not at all important in their responses.
Overall, a plurality of North Carolinians—43 percent—said it was ‘extremely’ important that the president seek Congressional authority for military action against another nation, with another 32 percent saying it was ‘very’ important.
When the responses are combined, nearly three-quarters of North Carolinians (74 percent) say it is important that Congress authorize military action against another nation.
In breaking down the responses by various characteristics, it is clear there is variation within North Carolina public opinion on a number of dimensions. Not surprisingly, one such clear difference is among initial partisan self-identification:
Partisan differences are evident. Democratic and independent identifiers overwhelmingly say congressional authorization is important, while only about six in ten Republicans say it is extremely or very important. Nearly three in ten Republicans say it is only “somewhat” important that the president obtain authorization before launching military strikes.
In looking at race/ethnicity of the respondents, each category had over 70 percent of North Carolinians saying it was extremely/very important for Congress to act.
Regionally, it is urban respondents—those in the central cities and in the urban suburbs—who feel most strongly about congressional approval before military strikes are called by the president. Well over three-quarters said it is important, while those in surrounding suburban counties and rural counties—typically the base of the state’s Republican support—were lower in their extremely/very important responses.
Not surprisingly, the ideological breakdown goes as expected in this day of polarized partisanship: over 90 percent of liberals say it is extremely/very important, while three-quarters of moderates said so. Among conservatives, only 63 percent said it was extremely/very important, while a quarter said ‘somewhat.’
Among generations, older respondents—those in the Silent and Boomer generations—had the greatest share of those saying it was important, while Generation X and Millennials/Generation Z respondents were over 70 percent.
The “diploma divide” is also evident: about two-thirds of high school graduates say congressional authorization is extremely or very important, compared with roughly eight in ten college graduates.
Finally, in looking at the 2024 presidential vote, it is notably that over 60 percent of Trump voters said it is extremely/very important that the president seek congressional authorization. But not surprisingly, nine-out-of-ten Harris voters said the same.
Taken together, these results suggest that North Carolinians broadly support a constitutional balance when it comes to military action. Across most demographic groups, large majorities say it is important that Congress authorize the use of force against another nation.
Yet the differences across partisanship and ideology also reveal how views of constitutional authority increasingly reflect the dynamics of modern polarization. While most voters—even among supporters of former President Trump—say congressional approval matters, Republicans are notably less likely than Democrats to see it as essential.
In an era when presidents of both parties have increasingly relied on unilateral military actions, North Carolina public opinion appears to favor a more traditional constitutional approach: one in which Congress plays a meaningful role before the nation commits its military to conflict abroad.
Whether Washington follows that public preference, however, remains an open question.
* Catawba College’s Center for North Carolina Politics & Public Service produced and paid for the online survey through YouGov, who interviewed 1194 respondents from North Carolina from August 11, 2025 - August 18, 2025 and who were then matched down to a sample of 1000 to produce the final dataset.
The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.83 percent, meaning that in 95 out of 100 samples such as the one used here, the results should be at most 3.83 percentage points above or below the figure obtained by interviewing all North Carolinians. Where the results of subgroups are reported, the margin of error is higher.
The respondents were matched to a sampling frame on gender, age, race, and education. The sampling frame is a politically representative “modeled frame” of North Carolina adults, based upon the American Community Survey (ACS) public use microdata file, public voter file records, the 2020 Current Population Survey (CPS) Voting and Registration supplements, the 2020 National Election Pool (NEP) exit poll, and the 2020 CES surveys, including demographics and 2020 presidential vote.
The matched cases were weighted to the sampling frame using propensity scores. The matched cases and the frame were combined, and a logistic regression was estimated for inclusion in the frame. The propensity score function included age, gender, race/ethnicity, years of education, and region. The propensity scores were grouped into deciles of the estimated propensity score in the frame and post-stratified according to these deciles.
The weights were then post-stratified on 2020 and 2024 presidential vote choice as well as a four-way stratification of gender, age (4-categories), race (4-categories), and education (4-categories), to produce the final weight.
All survey results should be viewed as informative and not determinative.
