The partisan divide between America’s two most prominent political parties seems to grow deeper and sharper every year, and now with a similar spike driven through just the Republican party over the last month, a lack of faith in the U.S. government as a whole has developed nationwide.
In a new Gallup poll conducted from January 2-22 that sought to determine the most pressing problem in America, the biggest vote getter was “The government/poor leadership” with 21% of the vote.
The change in opinion pushed the last leader in such a poll – inflation – down to second place with 15%. Inflation was tied for first place in Gallup’s poll that spanned November and December of last year, neck and neck with “Economy in general.”
Meanwhile the economy fell all the way to fourth in the new poll with just 10% of the vote. Immigration climbed to third place with 11%.
Notably, the poll was conducted amidst the Republicans’ debacle in deciding its leadership in the federal House of Representatives. Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California was eventually elected Speaker of the House, but it took him 15 tries to get there, even with a Republican majority in the House.
The revelations of various top government officials, including President Joe Biden, having mishandled classified documents in recent years also came during the polling period.
Likewise, approval rating of Congress held steady at just 21%. Biden’s approval rating is almost double that but also held in place from the previous poll at 41%.
Party lines didn’t change the outcome either, with the government registering as the top problem whether the respondent identified as Republican, Democrat, or independent.
24% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents called government the nation’s biggest problem. The number was slightly lower among Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents at 18% but was still the top vote-getter.
And while the economy may have lost ground in terms of its position as the nation’s worst problem, the outlook isn’t exactly rosy among poll respondents.
83% described America’s economic outlook as either fair (38%) or poor (45%). Only 15% called it good, and a meager 2% responded with “excellent.” And 72% believe the economy is getting worse, compared to 22% who believe it’s on the rise and 4% who believe it isn’t changing at all.
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