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| The Face of Evil |
From Gallup
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans continue to name the government (18%)
as the most important U.S. problem, a distinction it has had for the
past four months. Americans' mentions of the economy as the top problem
(11%) dropped this month, leaving it tied with jobs (10%) for second
place.
Though issues such as terrorism, healthcare, race relations and immigration
have emerged among the top problems in recent polls, government, the
economy and unemployment have been the dominant problems listed by
Americans for more than a year.
The latest results are from a March 5-8 Gallup poll of 1,025 American adults.
While the ranking of the top two problems is similar to what Gallup
found in February, mentions of the economy dropped from 16% to the
current 11%. In a separate measure, Americans' confidence in the economy
had been dipping further into negative territory in late February and early March, but has been improving in recent days.
The state of U.S. healthcare also became less of a problem to
Americans in March, as 7% mention it this month, compared with 10% in
February.
The latest poll found that terrorism (6%), the situation in Iraq/ISIS
(4%) and national security (4%) also ranked among the most cited
problems, illustrating that terrorism concerns are still on many
Americans' minds.
Satisfaction With Direction of U.S. at 31%
Thirty-one percent of Americans are satisfied with the way things are
going in the country. Satisfaction has been stable over the last three
months; however, it remains higher than most readings since 2007.
Satisfaction with the nation's direction had declined in 2013 and
2014 after reaching 33% during the 2012 fall presidential campaign.
Satisfaction reached an all-time low of 7% in late 2008 as the financial
crisis was underway, and an all-time high of 71% in February 1999 amid
the dot-com boom.
Bottom Line
While dissatisfaction with government is by no means a new issue to
the American people, it has not in recent months been as clearly the
leading problem as it is now, given that fewer Americans mention the
economy.
Meanwhile, satisfaction with the direction of the U.S. remains
relatively upbeat compared with figures from recent years, but
two-thirds of Americans continue to be dissatisfied.
Survey Methods
Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews
conducted March 5-8, 2015, with a random sample of 1,025 adults, aged 18
and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of
sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All
reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for
weighting.
Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 50%
cellphone respondents and 50% landline respondents, with additional
minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular
telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.
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