posted May 15, 2011 06:14 PM
Just 23% Say Federal Government Has Consent of the Governed
Friday, May 13, 2011Most voters nationwide continue to feel disconnected from their government and overwhelmingly believe that Congress puts party politics ahead of its constituents' concerns.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that only 23% believe the federal government today has the consent of the governed. Sixty percent (60%) do not think this is the case, while another 17% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
These views have changed little since Rasmussen Reports first began asking about this foundational U.S. principle in July 2008.
The Political Class, however, strongly disagrees. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of those in the Political Class believe the government does have the consent of the governed. Seventy-five percent (75%) of Mainstream voters don't share that view.
The latter finding is perhaps not surprising given that only 11% of all voters believe the average member of Congress listens to his or her constituents more than their party leaders. That's the lowest level of confidence measured in the past two years. Eighty percent (80%) believe most congressmen listen to their party leaders more than the voters they represent.
Just 17% believe most congressmen get reelected because of the good job they do representing their constituents. Fifty-three percent (53%) think they're reelected because election rules are rigged to benefit incumbents.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on May 9-10, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Sixty-nine percent (69%) of voters remain at least somewhat angry with the current policies of the federal government, including 38% who are Very Angry.
Male voters feel more strongly than female voters that the government does not have the consent of the governed. Younger voters are more inclined than their elders to think that consent exists.
Black voters are twice as likely as white voters to believe the government has the consent of the governed.
While most Republicans (72%) and voters not affiliated with either major political party (68%) believe the government does not have the consent of the governed, Democrats are narrowly divided on the question. However, sizable majorities of all three groups agree that the average member of Congress listens to party leaders more than the voters they represent.
In fact, most voters across virtually all demographic groups think that Congress puts party leaders first.
But 55% of Political Class voters believe the average member of Congress listens most to his or her constituents. Ninety percent (90%) of Mainstream voters disagree and think the average congressman listens to party leaders the most.
Favorables for the new Congress have fallen to the lowest levels since late 2008.
Most voters continue to feel they have very little in common ideologically with the average member of Congress. But Republicans in Congress are now seen as more conservative than they were a month ago.
Voters overwhelmingly believe that most members of Congress are for sale, and over half think it’s at least somewhat likely that their own representative has been bought with cash or a campaign contribution.
Sixty-four percent (64%) of Likely Republican Primary Voters believe the gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and politicians who want to rule over them is now as big as it was between the American Colonies and Great Britain in the 18th century.
www.rasmussenreports.com
Lindaland
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posted May 15, 2011 06:14 PM
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