Poll: Most Americans don’t trust the government, confidence at half-century low

By Liz Sidoti, AP
Sunday, April 18, 2010

Poll: Majority lacks trust in government

WASHINGTON — Can you trust Washington?

Nearly 80 percent of Americans say they can’t and they have little faith that the massive federal bureaucracy can solve the nation’s ills, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center that shows public confidence in the federal government at one of the lowest points in a half-century.

The poll released Sunday illustrates the ominous situation facing President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party as they struggle to maintain their comfortable congressional majorities in this fall’s elections. Midterm prospects are typically tough for the party in power. Add a toxic environment like this and lots of incumbent Democrats could be out of work.

The survey found that just 22 percent of those questioned say they can trust Washington almost always or most of the time and just 19 percent say they are basically content with it. Nearly half say the government negatively effects their daily lives, a sentiment that’s grown over the past dozen years.

This anti-government feeling has driven the tea party movement, reflected in fierce protests this past week.

“The government’s been lying to people for years. Politicians make promises to get elected, and when they get elected, they don’t follow through,” says Cindy Wanto, 57, a registered Democrat from Nemacolin, Pa., who joined several thousand for a rally in Washington on April 15 — the tax filing deadline. “There’s too much government in my business. It was a problem before Obama, but he’s certainly not helping fix it.”

Majorities in the survey call Washington too big and too powerful, and say it’s interfering too much in state and local matters. The public is split over whether the government should be responsible for dealing with critical problems or scaled back to reduce its power, presumably in favor of personal responsibility.

About half say they want a smaller government with fewer services, compared with roughly 40 percent who want a bigger government providing more. The public was evenly divided on those questions long before Obama was elected. Still, a majority supported the Obama administration exerting greater control over the economy during the recession.

“Trust in government rarely gets this low,” said Andrew Kohut, director of the nonpartisan center that conducted the survey. “Some of it’s backlash against Obama. But there are a lot of other things going on.”

And, he added: “Politics has poisoned the well.”

The survey found that Obama’s policies were partly to blame for a rise in distrustful, anti-government views. In his first year in office, the president orchestrated a government takeover of Detroit automakers, secured a $787 billion stimulus package and pushed to overhaul the health care system.

But the poll also identified a combination of factors that contributed to the electorate’s hostility: the recession that Obama inherited from President George W. Bush; a dispirited public; and anger with Congress and politicians of all political leanings.

“I want an honest government. This isn’t an honest government. It hasn’t been for some time,” said self-described independent David Willms, 54, of Sarasota, Fla. He faulted the White House and Congress under both parties.

The poll was based on four surveys done from March 11 to April 11 on landline and cell phones. The largest survey, of 2,500 adults, has a margin of sampling error of 2.5 percentage points; the others, of about 1,000 adults each, has a margin of sampling error of 4 percentage points.

In the short term, the deepening distrust is politically troubling for Obama and Democrats. Analysts say out-of-power Republicans could well benefit from the bitterness toward Washington come November, even though voters blame them, too, for partisan gridlock that hinders progress.

In a democracy built on the notion that citizens have a voice and a right to exercise it, the long-term consequences could prove to be simply unhealthy — or truly debilitating. Distrust could lead people to refuse to vote or get involved in their own communities. Apathy could set in, or worse — violence.

Democrats and Republicans both accept responsibility and fault the other party for the electorate’s lack of confidence.

“This should be a wake-up call. Both sides are guilty,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. She pointed to “nonsense” that goes on during campaigns that leads to “promises made but not promises kept.” Still, she added: “Distrust of government is an all-American activity. It’s something we do as Americans and there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Sen. Scott Brown, a Republican who won a long-held Democratic Senate seat in Massachusetts in January by seizing on public antagonism toward Washington, said: “It’s clear Washington is broken. There’s too much partisan bickering to be able to solve the problems people want us to solve.”

And, he added: “It’s going to be reflected in the elections this fall.”

But Matthew Dowd, a top strategist on Bush’s re-election campaign who now shuns the GOP label, says both Republicans and Democrats are missing the mark.

“What the country wants is a community solution to the problems but not necessarily a federal government solution,” Dowd said. Democrats are emphasizing the federal government, while Republicans are saying it’s about the individual; neither is emphasizing the right combination to satisfy Americans, he said.

On the Net:

Pew Research Center: people-press.org/

Discussion
April 19, 2010: 11:53 am

I can’t believe Republicans/Conservatives are demanding respect from the LEFT. So that’s IT huh… the likes of (corporate owned) Mbitch McConnell, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Bob McDonnell, etc. are the ONLY answers these Conservatives wackos can come up with?

Why Republicans want to celebrate the Confederacy is beyond me. they’ve already got a lost cause… their own Party, lol. Honestly, every decade or so, more Progressive Americans have to put the crazy rednecks in their place.

REALITY NOW! What leadership, character or morals have Republicans displayed in the past?

NO solutions, NO rational stance, clear agendas or common sense policy… JUST Sarah Palin/Glenn Beck groupies parroting talking points!
(I heard rumors someone in the Palin entourage is smuggling meth/coke on the tour charter flights)

Have you ever LISTENED to the average right-wing fanatic? It’s like every Conservative in America is auditioning for a spot on the FOX News channel. (News Corp owned by Saudi Royals)

COME ON, are you right-wing wackos #*~/‘n INSANE? Am I missing something here? Didn’t Conservatives just have 8 YEARS of Bush/Cheney and Republican controlled Congress (1994-2006) to put their warped ideology into practice? AND IT ALMOST DESTROYED THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH!

Waste, fraud, abuse, scandal, sexual deviancy, corruption, lies, incompetence, job outsourcing, off-shore tax evasion, reckless economics, welfare for the rich, war profiteering, Constitutional violations AND a Corporate Crime Wave of epic proportions…. The WORST looting of a nation’s wealth and resources in the history of MANKIND!

Where was the Tea Party anger THEN? #*~/ ignorant hypocrites.

But you want Democrats/Progressives to believe if only Conservatism had one more chance it can work? The very definition of insanity, isn’t IT? Over and over AGAIN! Just separate yourselves from Bush/Cheney… bull$#!~ MISINFORMED people into believing they’re part of a NEW Conservative Movement.

In OTHER WORDS Republican Party talking points are based on the ignorance of their constituents. They revise history and LIE because they CAN… because morons who vote for Republicans DON’T KNOW THEIR OWN HISTORY! This ain’t NO Tea Party… this is a CLASS WAR!
Do I miss George W. Bush? #*~/ NO!

The American PEOPLE would be NUTS to put their faith, trust, vote and government in the hands of Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and those numbkulls making up the Tea Party cult?

REAL Great Americans WANT TO EMBRACE ETHICS, RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. Something this sick, twisted Neo-Con generation FAILED miserably at. Republicans in Congress since 1984 have been no better than highly paid HO’s for the wealthy and powerful. Republican Party, please GO AWAY and let the adults fix the HUGE MESS left over from the Bush/Cheney DISASTER…

JEEZ and crackers… I wish the Pharmaceutical Industry could find a cure for the severe superiority complexes, odd paranoia and religious delusions most of the Right-wing is suffering through.
consciousmc.blogspot.com
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“… did you see the video of the TRAITORS Ailes, O’Reilly, Hannity, Beck and the rest of FOX news puppets lining up t0 kiss the right shoulder of the Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talai? I got ill during the Saudi sword dance celebrating how they got the American, ignorant, right-wing fanatics to VOTE AGAINST THEIR OWN BEST INTERESTS!

…It’s even more sickening than all the hand holding/kissing Bush Jr. used to do at the ranch in Crawford TX. George W. Bush always resembled a smitten school girl ever time he was in the presence of Saudi Royals… SPQR

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