CITIZENS DO NOT TRUST THEIR GOVERNMENT, THEY ARE HUNGRY FOR LEADERSHIP

DON’T TRUST GOVERNMENT? WHOHA GONNA CALLL!

The in-depth poll found Americans not only rejecting the idea of an activist government, but a growing number urging that its power be curtailed. The findings reinforce the anti-big government message of tea party rallies and suggest anew that incumbents, particularly Democrats, face a strong headwind in this fall's elections for control of Congress[5]

“By almost every conceivable measure Americans are less positive and more critical of government these days,” the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press said in a report released yesterday. The survey results depict “a perfect storm of conditions associated with distrust of government -- a dismal economy, an unhappy public, bitter partisan-based backlash, and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials.”[3]

BUSHONOMICS LOWERED REGULATION AND WALL STREET STEALS, BUSH OUT REPUBLICAN AND TEA PEOPLE CALL FOR LOWER REGULATION TILL THEY GET BACK?
Pew says the recent downward trend in trust in government began in the fall of 2008, when public satisfaction plunged amid the financial crisis. [4]


America's "Great Compromiser" Henry Clay called government "the great trust," but most Americans today have little faith in Washington's ability to deal with the nation's problems.[1]

PUBLIC CONFIDENCE
Public confidence in government is at one of the lowest points in a half century, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center. Nearly 8 in 10 Americans say they don't trust the federal government and have little faith it can solve America's ills, the survey found.[1]

Nearly 80 percent of Americans say they do not trust the U.S. government to do what is right, expressing the highest level of distrust in Washington in half a century, according to a public opinion survey. [2]

MID TERM SWING
The survey illustrates the ominous situation President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party face 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.[1]
GOVERNMENT NEGATIVELY AFFECTS OUR LIVES
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.[1]

Only 22 percent of Americans say they trust the government "just about always" or "most of the time," according to the Pew Research Center survey released on Sunday. [2]

TEA PARTY ANTI GOVERNMENT MOVEMENT
This anti-government feeling has driven the tea party movement, reflected in fierce protests this past week.[1]

The Tea Party movement is a populist United States protest movement that promotes fiscal conservatism The movement emerged in 2009 through an ongoing series of tea Party Protests These are partially in response to the 2008 stimulus package as well as the 2008 bail outs. In 2010 The Economist described the movement as "America's most vibrant political force”[5]


Among Republicans, 28 percent said the Tea Party represents their values better than the current Republican Party. Right- leaning independents said they prefer the Tea Party to the Republican Party by 30 percent to 29 percent.[3]

"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."[1]

Americans' trust in the federal government has been on a steady decline from a high of 73 percent during the Eisenhower administration in 1958, when the "trust" question was first posed in a national survey, the research center said. [2]

"The Tea Party movement, which has a small but fervent anti-government constituency, could be a wild card in this election. On one hand, its sympathizers are highly energized and inclined to vote Republican this fall. On the other, many Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the Tea Party represents their point of view better than does the GOP."[4]


PEW SURVEY
The long, bitter debate over the healthcare law that U.S. President Barack Obama signed last month made negative feeling about government, particularly Congress, even worse, according to the report based on a series of surveys of some 5,000 people. [2]
APPROVAL 25% CONGRESS, 40% OBAMA
About 25 percent had a favorable opinion of Congress, the lowest in 25 years of surveying, and less than half (40%) said the Obama administration was doing an excellent or good job, Pew said. [2]
FRUSTRATION
Americans were found to be more frustrated than angry, with 56 percent expressing frustration with the federal government, compared with 21 percent who said they were angry. [2]
GOVERNMENT THREATENS OUR FREEDOM
Forty-three percent of Republicans, 50 percent of independents who lean Republican and 57 percent of those who agree with the Tea Party movement said the government presents a major threat to their personal freedom. [2]

That compares with 18 percent of Democrats, 21 percent of independents who lean Democratic and 9 percent of those who disagree with the Tea Party movement.
The main survey of 2,505 adults was conducted March 11-21. Three other surveys of about 1,000 adults each were conducted March 18-21, April 1-5 and April 8-11. The margin of sampling error for the surveys is plus or minus 4 percentage points. [2]


STATES RIGHTS
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.[1]
WE WANT SMALLER GOVERNMENT WITH FEWER SERVICES
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. [1]
Federal agencies and institutions also are viewed much more positively than is Congress. Nonetheless, favorable ratings have fallen significantly since 1997-1998 for seven of 13 federal agencies included in the survey. The declines have been particularly large for the Department of Education, the FDA, the Social Security Administration, as well as the EPA, NASA and the CDC. [4]


WE WANT GOVERNMENT CONTROL IN A RECESSION
Still, a majority supported the Obama administration exerting greater control over the economy during the recession.[1]
POLITICAS HAS POISENED THE WELL. OR AT LEAST THE DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY DID
"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." [1]
GOVERNMENT TAKE OVER OF AUTO INDUSTRY
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.[1]
THE VOTERS DISLIKE EVERYBODY
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.[1]
WE WANT HONEST GOVERNMENT
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.[1]
THE REPUBLICANS WHO CAUSED THE RECESSION WILL BENEFIT IN THE MID TERM ELECTIONS
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.[1]
DISTRUST OF GOVERNMENT COULD LEAD TO VIOLENCE?
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.[1] VIGILANT TEA’S
ELECTORATE LACK OF RESPONSIBILITY
Democrats and Republicans both accept responsibility and fault the other party for the electorate's lack of confidence.[1]
WAKE UP CALL
"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."[1]
WASHINGTON IS BROKEN
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."[1]

As was the case in the 1997 study of attitudes about government, more people say the bigger problem with government is that it runs its programs inefficiently (50%) than that it has the wrong priorities (38%). But the percentage saying government has the wrong priorities has increased sharply since 1997 - from 29% to 38%.[4]


MAJOR PATIES ARE MISSING THE MARK
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.[1]
PEOPLE WANT A COMMUNITY SOLUTION NOT POLITICAL SOLUTION
"What the country wants is a community solution to the problems but not necessarily a federal government solution," Dowd said.
INDIVIDUAL SOLUTION OR GOVERNMENTAL SOLUTION?
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.[1]

It says rather than an activist government to deal with the nation's top problems, the public now wants government reformed and growing numbers want its power curtailed.
"With the exception of greater regulation of major financial institutions, there is less of an appetite for government solutions to the nation's problems - including more government control over the economy - than there was when Barack Obama first took office.[4]

Nonetheless, antigovernment sentiment appears to be a more significant driver of possible turnout among Republicans and independents than among Democrats. Perhaps most troubling for Democrats, independent voters who are highly frustrated with government are also highly committed to casting a ballot this year, and they favor the Republican candidates in their districts by an overwhelming 66% to 13% margin.[5]




[1]
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jd_jiGbsExSJ0dfp1Na1YjnRJsfgD9F608UG0
[2]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/19/AR2010041900117.html
[3]
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-19/pew-study-finds-perfect-storm-of-government-discontent.html
[4]
http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/10121.html
[5]
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/18/1585606/poll-americans-distrust-of-federal.html
[6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement

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