Americans have long been skeptical of the federal government and suspicious of elected representatives as a whole. Roughly eight-in-ten (81%) say elected officials in Washington lose touch with the people pretty quickly, and 62% say “most elected officials don’t care what people like me think.†Just 41% of Americans now say the government is really run for the benefit of all the people. This is down from 49% three years ago, and matches previous lows in the early 1990s.
Concerns about the government’s scope and reach have also resurged. The number saying “the federal government controls too much of our daily lives†fell to 55% in 2009, only to rise again to 62% in the latest poll.
Overall assessments of the government’s performance remain quite negative. On the core question of whether the government is usually wasteful and inefficient, 59% now agree, little different than the 57% who said this in 2009. This is still less critical than views people expressed in the late 1980s and through most of the 1990s. In 1992, 70% said the government was usually inefficient and wasteful.
Public support for a government social safety net has continued to steadily wane. While a majority of Americans has consistently agreed that it is the responsibility of government to take care of people who can’t take care of themselves, this has slipped to 59% from 63% in 2009 and 69% in 2007.
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Support for a government social safety net declined in 2009 and has continued to decrease since then. Support for government programs to aid the poor now nears the 25-year lows seen in 1994. Today, just 43% agree that the government should help more needy people, even if it means going deeper in debt, down from 48% in 2009 and 54% in 2007.
Similarly, although a majority (59%) says that it falls to the government to take care of those who cannot care for themselves, this is down 10 points from 2007.
Since 2007, Republican support for the safety net has declined significantly even as Democrats continue to support government assistance to the poor and needy as they have over the last 25 years. As a result, although the safety net has long been one of the areas where the opinions of Republicans and Democrats most diverge, the current party gap is now larger than ever.
Majorities of Republicans now say they disagree that the government should guarantee every citizen enough to eat and a place to sleep (36% agree, 63% disagree) and take care of people who can’t take care of themselves (40% agree, 54% disagree). As recently as 2009, Republican opinions on these questions were more evenly divided.
Tis a pity The Stupid Party stand a very good chance of getting enough power to do exactly the wrong thing.
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Simple answer: political power does not follow from this poll trend; rather, it would be reduced (restored to the people) if the obvious poll numbers were recognized and followed up on. Since the government of both flavors can take even more power to themselves by ignoring this poll data, that is exactly what they’ll do. The poll doesn’t go far enough. It needs to ask what support exists for an Un-do of present government power. With THAT data in hand, and THAT bat to smite the pols with, something might get done, but not before then.
As the father of a severely mentally retarded 9 year old son who will never be able to take care of himself, I find these polls deeply distressing.
Unfortunately, dawg, this is what happens when government goes from doing only what people and corporations cannot (their Constitutional purpose), to doing everything (badly, and while charging through the nose).
It sounds as though your son is a text book case of where the .gov could possibly step in with a hand. However, they won’t do that now. They want total control and then they’re going to charge taxpayers 200% the going rate for the care and the education.
Dawg, this may sound harsh but could you explain exactly why I should have my substance extorted at gunpoint to support your child? I had no government assistance raising and supporting my children. I paid out of my own pocket for a technical education then worked at my trade for over thirty years, setting aside money each payday for old age and emergencies. I also paid substantial amounts in income, sales, and property taxes among others. I’ve seen it estimated that the average working person pays right around 50% of his income in taxes, even paying taxes on taxes. How well would the economy do if the total tax burden was, say, 25%? God only ASKS for 10%. Perhaps some financial management is in order rather than depending on the public treasury.
Dawg, back in the days before the libs/progs/socs/etc took over, your church or fraturnal organization would be helping you out. Just wait ’til obamacare kicks in for real and the bureaucrats are the ones who decicde whether to give your boy the red pill or the blue pill…
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Dawg, my sympathies are with you. The reality of the situation is that had not the political party that controls who gets what whether they are in power or not decided to use the money available to pander for votes to remain in power and since your son probably will not be able to render a vote for many years if ever, he is discounted from the assistance rightfully and morally his in favor of one who while irresponsible financially and morally will favor their agenda of job retention. I purely wish we could go back to a time when most went to church and willingly donated to causes such as this instead of leaving it in the hands of supposedly “college educated licensed professionals” who are swayed by political rhetoric to reward like minded followers and do not have the empathy to detect true need as opposed to greed.
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