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What's America's Biggest Threat? Nearly 70% of US Say it's the Government
Townhall.com ^ | January 6, 2016 | Donald Lambro

Posted on 01/06/2016 12:39:48 PM PST by Kaslin

Barack Obama wants us to believe that the biggest issue facing our country today is gun control or global warming. Some of the GOP presidential candidates say it's illegal immigrants who threaten us. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders think it's big business and the top one percent.

But when the Gallup Poll asked Americans last month to name the "biggest threat to the U.S.," illegal immigrants were way down on the list of concerns. So were the other issues the candidates are focusing on, many which barely get mentioned by ordinary Americans.

"For the second consecutive year, dissatisfaction with government edged out the economy as the problem more Americans identified as the nation's top problem in 2015," the Gallup Poll reported this week.

"According to Gallup's monthly measure of the most important problem facing the U.S., an average of 16% of Americans in 2015 mentioned some aspect of government -- including President Barack Obama, Congress or political conflict, as the country's chief problem," write's Gallup's analyst Lydia Saad.

"The economy came in [a close] second with 13 percent mentioning it, while unemployment and immigration tied for third at 8 %," she said.

"Rounding out the top 10 were a constellation of problems each averaging 5%, including ethical/moral decline, race relations/racism, terrorism, the federal budget deficit or debt and education."

But when Gallup asked Americans what troubles them most and is the chief threat to our way of life, one issue is head and shoulders above all the others: the government. Wasteful, woefully incompetent, bickering, ineffective.

When asked to choose between big government, big labor and big business, 69 % of those who were surveyed overwhelmingly named big government as the "biggest threat to America's future."

I don't know about you, but I'm not hearing the GOP candidates raising this issue to the high level that so many Americans believe is our greatest threat.

We're certainly not hearing Hillary Clinton or Sanders warning about big government. They're proposing a long laundry list of programs and agencies to make it bigger and a lot costlier than the $4 trillion a year it costs us now.

Where was gun control, the issue that Obama has made his chief concern in the last year of his presidency?

It was 19th on the list of the major concerns, showing how out of touch he is with the rest of the country.

In earlier decades, a much larger segment of Americans said big labor or big business were a bigger threat. That's changed dramatically in recent decades, particularly in the Age of Obama and seven years of weak economic growth, a sharply declining work force, and fewer full-time, good paying jobs.

"By 2000, the percentage naming big government rose to 65 percent, as mentions of big labor fell into the single digits," says Gallup's Rebecca Riffkin in an analysis titled "Big Government Still Named as Biggest Threat to U.S."

"More recently, concerns about business and labor have drifted down while concerns about big government have climbed back up to nearly 70 percent," she writes.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that Republicans are worried far more about the growth of big government than Democrats and independents.

Nearly nine out of 10 Republicans say big government is the biggest threat, but 67 percent of independents and 53 percent of Democrats say so, too.

In other words, this is a major political issue that cuts deeply across party lines. It is the reason why Republicans control both the House and Senate by hefty margins, and one of the reasons why Obama's job approval polls have been stuck in the mid-to-upper 40 percent range over the course of his presidency.

This week, in yet another Constitutionally dubious end-run around Congress, Obama announced another series of executive actions -- this time, aimed at broadening the government's regulation of firearms.

He's sent gun control proposals to Congress before, but they went nowhere, lacking major public support, as Gallup's latest surveys have shown.

"Even when mentions of terrorism, immigration and gun laws briefly flared, the percentages citing these stayed below the 20 percent threshold," Gallup said.

The American people know what the important issues are in our country and they are listed in the order of their importance in Gallup's latest polling results.

They are, first and foremost, dissatisfaction with their government, followed by unhappiness and frustration with the Obama economy and unemployment, with immigration barely clinging to the "top four" list with 8 percent.

Hillary Clinton, who apparently doesn't read the Gallup polls, is furiously campaigning around the country, trying to convince voters that the economy does better under the Democrats than it would with a Republican in the White House.

University of Maryland business economist Peter Morici not only says "that is simply false," he provides statistics to prove it.

"The best apples-to-apples comparison is between the rather difficult conditions Presidents Reagan and Obama inherited" and how "the fortunes of America's families then progressed," he writes.

Obama borrowed FDR's New Deal spending policy from the 1930s, to boost infrastructure. Reagan cut tax rates to spur capital investment and hiring in businesses large and small.

Obama has added more than 13.2 million jobs. Reagan added 17.2 million jobs, Morici says.

"Through the first 25 quarters of Obama's recovery, the gross domestic product (GDP) has averaged 2.2 percent, whereas during the comparable period for Reagan, GDP advanced at a 4.6 percent annual pace."

Today, a debt-ridden government and the economy are once again the nation's two biggest concerns, and Clinton wants to double-down on Obama's economic policies.

Time for a change, wouldn't you say?


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: environment
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1 posted on 01/06/2016 12:39:48 PM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

That’s kind of a strange poll result since the majority of voters voted for a lawless government.


2 posted on 01/06/2016 12:44:48 PM PST by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason and rule of law. Prepare!)
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To: Kaslin

The government and the people who elected them.


3 posted on 01/06/2016 12:47:15 PM PST by bgill (CDC site, "We still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
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To: Kaslin

If you own land it is specifically the BLM


4 posted on 01/06/2016 12:49:15 PM PST by MarMema
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To: Kaslin

Only 70%?

We have some educating to do.


5 posted on 01/06/2016 12:49:25 PM PST by Da Coyote
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To: Kaslin

Respectfully, the out of control federal government is far more and far worse than a threat.

A threat is a person or thing likely to cause damage or danger.

We passed the “likely” stage long ago and entered the “Damage Is Here” stage.

The nation and American citizens have already been severely damaged and the government will continue to inflict more damage for at least another year, probably a lot longer than that.

We are in jeopardy of hitting a Point Of No Return very soon, if we haven’t passed it already.


6 posted on 01/06/2016 12:53:29 PM PST by Iron Munro (The wise have stores of choice food and oil but a foolish man devours all he has. Proverbs 21:20)
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To: Kaslin

Ron Paul was a giant nutball, but he gathered a lot of support because he was the only one talking about shrinking the government.

So far for 2016, the only one seriously talking this way is Donald Trump. Not hard to guess why he has so much support.


7 posted on 01/06/2016 12:53:55 PM PST by Marko413
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To: Kaslin

Paging John Cornyn and John Carter, the Texans that elected you are not happy with your performance.

Time to put down that K Street spoon and do something.


8 posted on 01/06/2016 12:58:07 PM PST by hadaclueonce (I thought Ethanol was the devil, now i find it is America is an Oligarchy)
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To: Kaslin

Out of control government (and the people who vote for such) is responsible for ‘protecting’ us from, and dealing with all the other threats.


9 posted on 01/06/2016 12:58:48 PM PST by Carthego delenda est
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To: Kaslin

Laura Ingrham hit the nail on the head in her recent article. Trump isn’t a “bully”. The government is bullying Americans on every level, from county and city bureaucrats to the EPA and IRS. Trump is the big kid on the playground who steps in and threatens to kick the bullies’ asses. That’s why people love him.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3380077/posts


10 posted on 01/06/2016 1:01:22 PM PST by Hugin ("First thing--get yourself a firearm!" Sheriff Ed Galt, Last Man Standing.)
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To: TigersEye

First: Great Post! Thank You for your time & energies in your research & posting, TigerEye.
Second—”...the MAJORITY of VOTERS...” Pleeease! Anyone following “Politics” knows that what the “Majority”, or “minority”, or any OTHER “Faction/Quota/Percentage” of “VOTERS” are Soooo N-O-T Broken down in ANY MAJORITY considering their reasons for Voting! Just like a “P-O-L-L “—made up of 500 “Voters”- is suppose to be reflective of 850 Million PLUS “Citizens”. Yea! A NEW YORK DAILY NEWS article ( Editor- owned-lock-stock-and-barrel-pool ) Allll Liberal-— am “I” suppose to believe a poll taken outside Hell’s Kitchen? or Mayor Lib DeBlasio’s office? or a NYC “Black Lives Matters” Poll??


11 posted on 01/06/2016 1:06:51 PM PST by Darth Airborne
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To: Kaslin

The headline does not fit the article. Many respondents in that 70 percent do not view government as a threat but obviously do not like its services. Some want more handouts.


12 posted on 01/06/2016 1:08:23 PM PST by Monterrosa-24 ( ...even more American than a French bikini and a Russian AK-47)
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To: Darth Airborne

Thank you very much.


13 posted on 01/06/2016 1:15:10 PM PST by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason and rule of law. Prepare!)
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To: TigersEye

Only giving credit where credit is due, young Masa-Son Tiger Eye! I originally was looking at “OBAMA CRYING!” and other related Obama/Libs/Media,”...the WORSE Crime,Problem, World Shattering issues are...BABY TURTLES NOT being able to Cross a Road!! in Florida! (Rush)
WHERE WERE THE TEARS for the just RECENT: Honorable! Self-Sacrificing!, men (&women) of our armed foreces who just RECENTLY were KILLED over seas- trying to support Rights-Freedoms-Lives of a People they Never met! Obama..Obama..Obama!! we ALL know WHY you don’t want “ARMS” in “AMERICANS” hands!! Is that Why YOU cover YOURSELF with over 50 S.S./CIA/ Etc. Guardswhereever YOU & YOUR Family goes?? DA Cathc ya in D.C. Tiger Eyes!


14 posted on 01/06/2016 1:27:35 PM PST by Darth Airborne
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To: Kaslin

and congress sleeps


15 posted on 01/06/2016 2:45:44 PM PST by The Mayor (Honesty means never having to look over your shoulder.)
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To: The Mayor

Congress is part of the government


16 posted on 01/06/2016 2:47:07 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin

Doesn’t say much for the public when illegal aliens so low on and Muslim refugees are low on the list


17 posted on 01/06/2016 2:56:03 PM PST by uncbob
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To: Kaslin

>>Barack Obama wants us to believe that the biggest issue facing our country today is gun control or global warming.

Well, he’s sort of right. Gun control is a HUGE problem. I want the goobermint to butt out and stop trying to control our guns. As far as global warming, the problem there, once again, is the gooobermint trying to control us. (Hint: If they REALLY cared about global warming, they would not be flying ginormous entourages to Paris to discuss it. Why aren’t they using algore’s magic internet to videoconference? Answer: Because it is primarily a giant scam to fleece the productive citizens of the world and redistribute their money to “the poor” but mostly to the politicians.)


18 posted on 01/06/2016 3:06:49 PM PST by generally
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To: generally

They are hypocrites and don’t care about the environments at all.


19 posted on 01/06/2016 3:14:57 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: TigersEye
That’s kind of a strange poll result since the majority of voters voted for a lawless government.

a majority of voters did not vote, especially if you were to listen to this website during the last election. Too many of the right staying home and not voting, thus giving the current idiot another 4 years. I still contend a republican lite is better then any type of democrat.

20 posted on 01/06/2016 3:45:50 PM PST by Cyclone59 (Where are we going, and what's with the handbasket?)
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