Poll: Almost Two-Thirds Not Confident Government Can Handle Important Issues
CHAT 7 COMMENTS
A new AP/ORC poll reveals that almost two-thirds (61%) of adults have little confidence the government can handle the important issues facing America. In addition, 69% say the country is headed in the wrong direction.
When respondents were asked what are the most important "problems" the government should be working on, the top responses were domestic issues, the economy and foreign policy issues.
ABC News writes, "Perhaps most vexing for the dozen or so candidates vying to succeed President Barack Obama, the poll indicates widespread skepticism about the government's ability to solve problems, with no significant difference in the outlook between Republicans and Democrats."
But how to explain the support for presidential candidates running on a platform of expanded government interference or with a record of crony capitalism?
"They can't even seem to get together and pass anything that's of any importance," said Doris Wagner, an 81-year-old Republican from Alabama who said she's "not at all confident" about seeing solutions in 2016. "It's so self-serving what they do," said Wagner, who called herself a small-government conservative.
A 71-year-old Democrat bemoaned a system of "lobbyists paid thousands upon thousands of dollars to get Congress to do what they want" for favored industry. "They aren't doing anything for you and me," she said.
The AP-NORC Poll of 1,042 adults was conducted Dec. 10-13, 2015, using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.