WASHINGTON (CBSDC)– More than 1 in 4 Americans believe that the government is the enemy, according to a new poll.
Pew Research Center found that 27 percent of registered voters say they think of government as an enemy, up 8 points since 1996. The latest poll looked at general public opinion regarding the federal government.
The findings suggests that 57 percent of voters feel frustrated with the government, while 22 percent feel angry and 18 percent feel “basically content.”
The majority of Americans feel the federal government has room for serious improvement, with 59 percent saying the government needs “very major reform.” Only 37 percent of voters felt that way in 1997.
When asked what particularly makes the government problematic, congress and politics were cited most often. Thirteen percent mentioned Congress, while 11 percent named politics.
More than a third (35 percent) of Republicans believe the federal government is the enemy, while 34 percent of Independents believe the same. The poll found that half of all Democrats (50 percent) view the government as a friend and only 12 percent see it as the enemy.
Other findings include that few think the
government is run for the benefit of all the people and that it is
viewed as wasteful and inefficient. About 3 in 4 Americans say the
federal government is “run by a few big interests” and 57 percent say
the “government is almost always wasteful and inefficient.”
