American Anger Against Government at All Time High
More Than 1/4 of Americans Really Don’t Like Their Government Right Now Anger with the federal government is now the highest since 1997, Pew says.
Twenty-six percent of Americans recently reported that they feel “angry” with the federal government. Half, 51 percent, say they are frustrated. And just 17 percent report that they are “basically content.”
The Pew Research Center, which conducted the survey, says this is the highest level of anger they have reported, or at least since they started asking the question in 1997. The angriest right now are the conservative Republicans-41 percent of them are angry.
The angriest of the angry are tea partiers, 50 percent of whom say they are angry.
The general trend is not surprising. The minority party in government tends to be angry when it is not in power. In October 2006, right before Democrats swept into power in the House and Senate, 44 percent of liberal Democrats reported that they were angry. But here’s what’s different: Even now, 18 percent of liberal Democrats are angry.
Another insight from the survey: Young Americans are tuning out coverage of the impending government shutdown. If you’re reading this article with interest and are under the age of 30, you’re in the minority. Congrats! Sixty-three percent of young people “say they are not following news about the government shutdown closely, including nearly half (46 percent) who say they aren’t following it at all,” Pew reports.
“Just 13 percent of young adults are tracking news about the budget battles in Congress very closely.”
And…..
IRS scandal means bad news for Obama
Glenn Harlan Reynolds10:23 a.m. EDT September 30, 2013, USA Today
Come 2014, the government’s damaged brand will reflect poorly on president and his party.
So last week, while most of the country was talking about football or fears of a government shutdown, Rasmussen released a poll that should worry everyone — but especially incumbent Democrats in Congress.
According to Rasmussen’s survey, most Americans think the IRS broke the law by targeting Tea Party groups for harassment, but few expect it to be punished
Fifty-three percent think the IRS broke the law by targeting the Tea Party and other conservative groups like the voter-integrity outfit True The Vote; only 24% disagreed.
But only 17%think it is even somewhat likely that anyone will be charged, while 74% think that criminal charges are unlikely.
So a majority of Americans think that government officials who exercise an important trust broke the law, but only a very small number think anything will be done to punish them.
There are a couple of lessons to draw from this. One is bad for the country in general, but the other is bad for congressional Democrats.
Read the rest of the column here:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/09/29/irs-tea-party-column/2892135/