With the election season here, a new Gallup survey offers insights on how Americans view the direction of where the country is going.
The survey specifically focuses on how Americans viewed top issues when President Donald Trump took office at the start of 2017 and compares that to how Americans view those same issues today.
The survey shows Americans are generally upbeat about the nation’s economy, military strength, economic opportunity and overall quality of life. The majority of Americans say they felt satisfied with each of these issues. Americans are also feeling better about the roles of women and gays in society as opposed to three years ago.
Gallup noted voters have increasingly grown satisfied on a host of issues, including significant increases since 2001 when it comes to the nation’s military strength (up 20 points); the acceptance of gays and lesbians (up 21 percent); energy policy (up 12 percent); taxes (up 11 percent); and healthcare ( up 8 percent).
Still, there are some signs of discontent, as Gallup insisted voters want to see improvements in healthcare, public education, gun and abortion policies, the environment, immigration, poverty and the distribution of income and wealth. In the past three years, Americans are less satisfied with abortion (down 7 percent), the level of immigration (down 6 percent) and the environment (down 6 percent).
But while voters showed less satisfaction in these areas, Gallup noted these numbers haven’t seen drastic changes since Trump took over in the White House. Gallup also noted that voter satisfaction on these issues has always been persistently low.
Still, there is one area where voters are increasingly dissatisfied: the performance of the federal government. Satisfaction is down 25 percent on that front. Americans are also increasingly dissatisfied with the role the U.S. plays in world affairs (down 18 percent) and the power of the federal government (down 12 percent).
David Williams, the president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, weighed in on the survey.
“No matter if you are a Republican, Democrat or independent, these latest results should be worrisome,” Williams told Florida Daily.
Williams said Trump campaigned on “draining the swamp” but the poll shows some voters aren’t seeing that happen. While he said he supports many of Trump’s proposals, Williams said the Gallup numbers still show voters aren’t fans of their own government.
“Americans’ overall satisfaction with the country’s direction is at its highest point since 2005. However, the 41 percent satisfied with the country today leaves 58 percent dissatisfied, and the detailed satisfaction measures reported here help reveal the source of that discontent,” Gallup noted.
These findings are from Gallup’s annual “Mood of the Nation” survey. Gallup polled 1,014 American adults from Jan. 2-15. The margin of error stood at +/- 4 percent.
Reach Ed Dean at ed.dean@floridadaily.com.
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