U.S. President Barack Obama and the Democratic party face a grassroots rebellion in mid-term Congressional elections this November, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
Popular dissatisfaction with government interference and Big Brother is at record highs, and a growing number of Americans distrust politicians. The Democratic party, which currently holds a majority in both houses of Congress, will bear the brunt of growing voter anger, the Pew study concludes.
It stated, “The study finds a perfect storm of conditions associated with distrust of government – a dismal economy, an unhappy public, bitter partisan-based backlash, and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials.”
The mood of the country in one word, increasingly, is “anger." The study did not question respondents on specific issues, such as foreign policy and the health reform law, but the mood of the country suggests that a large enough rebellion at the polls that could upset President Obama’s plans, including those for Israel.
A small but growing number of voters are strongly anti-government. The proportion saying that they are angry with the federal government has doubled since 2000 and matches the high [of 20 percent] reached in October 2006,” Pew stated.
An uprising against Democrats is indicated by the figure that shows only 17 percent of the respondents think Congress is doing a good or excellent job. 40 percent expressed a positive view of President Obama's administration.
Pew said that the worst problem for Democrats may be that “the link between dissatisfaction with government and voting intentions is at least as strong among independent voters.” Independents favor the Republican party in their districts by a 41-34 percent margin, according to the survey.
The margin grows to 66-13 percent when taking into account only the Independents who are “highly dissatisfied.” Distrust in the American government has reached its lowest level in 50 years, with only 22 percent trusting it most or all of the time.
A larger minority of the public also feels the government is a major threat to personal freedom, far more than registered in a media survey conducted seven years ago.
One big problem for the Republicans is the growing Tea Party movement, which largely reflects GOP party views but which apparently opposes the leadership. If its runs at the polls as an independent party, it could split the growing opposition to the Democratic majority. Independent parties rarely succeed in the United States, but populist candidate George Wallace posed a serious threat in the presidential elections in 1968.