Confidence in the US system of government is at its lowest point since 1974, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll of Americans. Opposition to continued US involvement in Afghanistan is at an all-time high. Distress over the economy, the budget deficit and gas prices is also acute. And voters seem disgusted by the political process. ABC News reports:
Only 26 percent of Americans in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll say they’re optimistic about “our system of government and how well it works,” down 7 points since October to the fewest in surveys dating to 1974. Almost as many, 23 percent, are pessimistic, the closest these measures ever have come. The rest, a record high, are “uncertain” about the system.
The causes are many. Despite a significant advance, more than half still say the economy has not yet begun to recover. And there’s trouble at the pump: Seventy-one percent in this poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, report financial hardship as a result of rising gas prices. Forty-four percent call it a “serious” hardship.
You can review the poll results here.
John Ellis | Mar. 15, 2011, 10:39 AM
Source: The Business Insider