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2010-03-03 05:12:16
By Steven Thomma, McClatchy Newspapers Steven Thomma, Mcclatchy Newspapers
Tue Mar 2, 4:32 pm ET
WASHINGTON An overwhelming majority of Americans think that their federal
government is gridlocked by partisan infighting and turf battles and can't
accomplish anything, according to a new McClatchy-Ipsos poll.
Yet the anger and frustration with Washington aren't directed solely at either
party and don't automatically add up to a tidal wave against the governing
Democrats in this year's elections for control of Congress , the poll
suggested.
In fact, Americans tilt slightly against Republicans as to which party they
blame more. They also give a 10-point edge to Democrats when they're asked
which party they'd vote for if the congressional elections were today.
"Overall, the poll suggests a level of disgust with politics as usual," said
Clifford Young , a senior vice president with Ipsos Public Affairs, which
conducted the survey. "Americans are basically angry at incumbents and
Washington . This isn't necessarily directed at any one party. I have my doubts
about whether the Democrats will be obliterated. Yes, they'll lose seats, but
there is a general backlash against all incumbents."
Four out of five Americans, 80 percent, said that Washington couldn't
accomplish anything because of fighting between the political parties and
branches of the government, the poll found. Only 17 percent disagreed.
The sentiment is deeply held: Fifty-one percent strongly agree that gridlock
renders the government impotent. It's also felt across the political spectrum,
with 81 percent of Republicans, 80 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of
independents agreeing that the government is bogged down.
Underscoring the public disgust: The ranks of people who think the country is
on the right track hit the lowest level since President Barack Obama took
office last year only 34 percent. Almost twice as many 60 percent said it
was on the wrong track.
The country's mood improved at first under Obama, with those saying that the
country was headed in the right direction rising from 42 percent shortly after
he took office to a high of 55 percent in early May. It's dropped ever since,
rooted in anxiety about recession and unemployment, and perhaps disgust with
Washington .
The poll measured sentiment at a time when Washington appears unable to solve
major problems, such as overhauling health care and taming the national debt,
or even routine tasks, such as extending unemployment benefits. A single
lawmaker, Sen. Jim Bunning , R- Ky. , has blocked a $10 billion bill that's
needed to extend those benefits, as well as highway projects and Medicare
payments to doctors.
As Democrats spotlight Bunning's move in order to turn opinion against
Republicans, Americans remain divided over which party to blame. The poll found
33 percent blaming Republicans for a broken Washington and 27 percent blaming
Democrats, with 2 percent blaming both parties, 5 percent unsure and 17 percent
saying that Washington isn't broken at all.
While partisans tended to blame the other party, independents split almost
evenly, with 18 percent blaming Democrats and 16 percent blaming Republicans.
The biggest bloc of independents, 38 percent, agreed that Washington is broken
but neither party is to blame.
Looking ahead to November's elections, 50 percent said they'd vote for
Democratic candidates if the election were today, while 40 percent said they'd
vote for Republicans.
Obama's approval rating was 53 percent, up 3 points from the end of January.
The poll was taken Friday through Sunday, just after the president hosted his
daylong bipartisan conference on health care.
"The conventional wisdom is that Democrats are totally lost and the Republicans
are gaining ground," Young said. "The situation is a little more complex than
that."
On the top national issue now in the news, 47 percent of Americans said they
opposed the health care proposals that Obama and Congress were discussing,
while 41 percent supported them.
Of "no" voters, 54 percent said they opposed the proposals because they went
"too far," while 37 percent said they opposed them because they "don't go far
enough."
Of "yes" voters, 78 percent said they thought that the proposals went far
enough to fix health care, while 12 percent said they supported them because
they didn't want health care overhauled and they thought that the proposals
went so far that Congress would never pass them.
METHODOLOGY:
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted Friday through
Sunday. For the survey, Ipsos interviewed a nationally representative, randomly
selected sample of 1,076 people 18 and older across the United States . With a
sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within 2.99 percentage
points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult
population in the U.S. been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject
to other sources of error, including coverage and measurement error. These data
were weighted to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the U.S.
population according to U.S. Census figures. Respondents had the option to be
interviewed in English or Spanish.