There’s a whole lot of pessimism out there these days.
A poll released yesterday by Rasmussen Reports says that 50% of Americans believe that our nation’s best days are behind it. This is consistent with another poll released last week that shows that only 19% percent of the public believes that the country is on the right track.
Not surprisingly, this pessimism has translated into wide-spread dissatisfaction with the institutions of government. A poll last week showed President Bush’s approval rating at 37% and another one released today also shows widespread dissatisfaction with the performance of Congress and the Supreme Court:
Just 13% of Likely Voters now say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 43% give Congress a poor rating.
Those results represent a slight decrease from last month, when 15% gave Congress a good or excellent rating.
(…)
The Supreme Court earns more positive feedback from voters. Thirty-three percent (33%) say the Supreme Court is doing a good or excellent job. Only 17% give it a poor rating.
Unstated, of course, is the fact that 67% of voters say that the Supreme Court is doing a “fair” or “poor” job.
The “why” behind all of this is easy to understand. With the economy failing, housing in a downturn, the Iraq war projected to cost $ 3 trillion dollars, and countless other problems, it’s not surprising that the public is both pessimistic and turning against the institutions of government. We’ve seen it before — by the time Election Day 1980 rolled around, Jimmy Carter would have been lucky to get elected dog catcher given the economic and international situation that he’d blundered himself into.
The interesting question is what the political consequences of this pessimism will be come November. The easy answer is to point to the candidacy of Barack Obama and say that his message of “hope” and “change” will have strong appeal to a voting public that is both frustrated with the current status quo and pessimistic about the future. And maybe that’s right.
But the American electorate isn’t stupid even when it is pessimistic and it remains to be seen if they’re going to trust the nation’s future to a guy who’s only had two years of national political experience.
