America: The land of the poor…gov’t ratings

Americans are growing tiresome of the constant bickering and blaming among factions of the United States government, as proven by a recent survey.

Americans are growing tiresome of the constant bickering and blaming among factions of the United States government, as proven by a recent survey. As the clock ticks towards the looming government shutdown, just three in ten Americans believe the country is going in the right direction.

It is being reported that the current situation is caused not so much by a battle between Democrats-controlled Congress and Republicans-controlled House. As of right now, the finger pointing is likely going on among Republicans themselves because it is who they are waging to shut the government down over the highly-controversial Obamacare.

Nonetheless, all signs are pointing to the government actually shutting down non-essential functions at midnight, October 1, which will undoubtedly cause greater displeasure among Americans toward the current administration, President Barack Obama included.

According to The Harris Poll, there is a dip in the perceived direction of the country: this month 29% of Americans believe the country is going in the right direction, while 71% say it’s seriously off on the wrong track. In July, 34% believed it was going in the right direction and 66% said it was off on the wrong track.

On President Obama, The Harris Poll found that, in July 39% of Americans gave him positive ratings for the overall job he was doing, while 61% gave the President negative ratings. This month, just one-third of Americans (34%) give the President positive marks for the overall job he is doing while two-thirds (66%) give him negative ratings. While it’s not surprising that 93% of Republicans and 88% of Conservatives give President Obama negative ratings, so do three-quarters of Independents (75%) and two-thirds of Moderates (65%). Within the President’s own base, while 64% of both Democrats and Liberals give him positive marks, over one-third of each (36%) give him negative ratings.

As for Congress, the survey found that, in both June and July of this year, the ratings for Congress were bad. Just 9% of Americans gave them positive ratings and 91% gave Congress negative marks for the overall job it is doing. Well, it’s gone even further down, and this month just 7% of U.S. adults give Congress positive ratings while 93% give them negative ones. This is something that brings those of all political persuasions together: nine in ten Democrats (90%) and over nine in ten Republicans (95%) and Independents (96%) give Congress negative ratings.

According to The Harris Poll, one-third of Americans (33%) say healthcare, including Obamacare and Affordable Care Act, are the two most important issues the government to need to address. The rest of the top five issues are all related to the economy. One-quarter each say the most important issue is employment/jobs (27%) and non-specific mentions of the economy (26%). About one in ten Americans each say that the budget deficit/national debt (12%) and the Budget/government spending (10%) are the most important issues for the government to address.

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Nell Alcantara

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