The Kennedy Center is trying to rename the park President Donald J. Trump Plaza

The Kennedy Center board voted Thursday to add Trump-related naming and inscription changes, CNN Politics reported. The board voted to add an inscription below the Kennedy Center sign saying the complex was “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” It also voted to rename the area around the center the “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”

The moves follow a federal judge’s earlier rejection of an attempt to rebrand the center as the “Trump Kennedy Center,” a ruling that forced the administration to remove Trump’s name from the building’s façade. The judge said federal law “makes crystal clear” that the center “cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so.”

The legal status of the new Kennedy Center actions remains unclear. The board is also trying again to close the center for renovations after a previous effort was rejected; the law allows an “inscription on the marble walls in the north or south galleries, the Hall of States, or the Hall of Nations acknowledging a major contribution.”

The developments come 81 days before the 2026 election, with Republicans facing a potentially difficult midterm vote. A CNN poll last month found 59% of Americans said Trump had “gone too far” in “making changes to cultural institutions such as the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian,” including 32% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents.

A Pew Research Center poll in April found 9% of Americans said it was acceptable to name government buildings after Trump while he is still in office, while 50% said it was not acceptable at all and 21% said it would be acceptable only after his presidency ends. CBS News polling showed nearly 8 in 10 Americans said the administration has focused “not enough” on lowering prices.