Today's Poll Question: Could a Democratic Congress rein in President Trump?

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Get ready to vote on today's daily poll question at smerconish.com.

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But first, Michael explains it for you right here.

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Welcome to The Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

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For Independent Minds.

Michael Smerconish (0:29)

Hello, hello, hi, gang, today is Monday, it's the 19th of October, 2026 Here is your poll question at smerconish.com.

Could a Democratic Congress rein in President Trump? Could a Democratic Congress rein in President Trump? There's a reason that I'm asking this particular question today. Well, I guess there's always a reason why I'm asking a particular question. But here it is.

On Saturday, on CNN, I delivered a commentary, long commentary, and I addressed what Democrats could actually accomplish if they win the House or the Senate, or the House and the Senate, while President Trump remains in the White House for the final two years. They'd gain the power of the purse, subpoenas, and with the Senate, control over confirmations. But getting anything into law still runs through President Trump's veto pen. And then on Saturday on CNN, I welcome Senator Joe Manchin, once the deciding vote in a 50-50 Senate, and Representative Nikki Budzinski of Illinois, who's running to chair the New Democratic Coalition. They were my guests, great conversation, talking about the limits of congressional power. But here's the thing, Saturday morning, while I was on air, the smerconish.com poll question was down for several hours, including while I was delivering the CNN program, which is the peak voting time. And we always do better on Saturdays with our poll results, meaning the raw number of votes than any other day of the week.

Nevertheless, even though the poll, I think, came back on between 1030 and 11, and I did not replay on Saturday, 21,190 still voted, which tells me this was a big poll question, big poll subject. You know, what can a Democratic Congress actually get done? 82.18% said a Democratic House should prioritize legislation over investigations. Legislation over investigations. And then this weekend, Jeffrey Toobin, after my commentary, published something at the New York Times striking a similar theme, quote, Think potential Democratic majorities will prove to be formidable adversaries for President Trump? Think again. And Toobin came at it from a slightly different angle. He said that the problem is structural. He noted that in Trump's first term, he ran out the clock on House subpoenas in the courts. And the Supreme Court's 2024 immunity decision, this was a big thing, I should have said this in my commentary, tilted the law further toward the president. He said, budget fights will likely end in grudging compromises and a veto override is a long shot. The one real power, he said, as I said on Saturday, is the Democratic Senate's ability to reject Trump's judicial nominees. So when all is said and done, Democrats are mostly fighting for the power to investigate even if Trump stonewalls and to block his nominees. And that's why I thought, you know, let me go back to the well in the same subject area and give people the opportunity to vote who didn't vote on Saturday and answer the question, could a Democratic Congress rein in President Trump?

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This is the Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

Michael Smerconish (4:00)

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