Posted on 06/04/2011 7:23:36 AM PDT by upchuck
Voters remain closely divided over whether their fellow countrymen get involved in politics to bring about needed change or to keep the government at bay.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 43% of Likely U.S. Voters think most Americans get involved in politics to help make the country better. But the identical number (43%) say most get politically active to protect themselves from what the government might do. Fourteen percent (14%) are not sure.
This is generally consistent with findings for the past two years.
Yet while voters believe church and community volunteer work is more important than politics when it comes to being a good citizen, they have slightly more faith now in the government as an avenue for change. Forty-three percent (43%) of voters say new government programs and policies are more likely than volunteer activities and organizations to bring about the change needed in the country. Thirty-nine percent (39%) disagree and have more confidence in volunteerism. Eighteen percent (18%) are undecided.
The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on May 29-30, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
Fifty-four percent (54%) of Democrats say most Americans get involved in politics to make the country better. However, pluralities of both Republicans (43%) and voters not affiliated with either major party (46%) attribute that involvement to a desire to protect themselves from the government.
Most blacks (58%) think Americans get politically active to improve the country. Whites and voters of other races are narrowly divided on the question.
Men tend to think volunteer activities and organizations are more likely to bring about needed change in the country, while women are inclined to express more confidence in new government programs and policies. Voters under 40 have more faith in government action than their elders do.
Forty-nine percent (49%) of Republicans think volunteer activities are more likely than government programs to bring about positive change. Fifty-one percent (51%) of Democrats and a plurality (41%) of unaffiliated voters think government action is a more effective agent for change.
Views differ greatly between Mainstream voters and the Political Class. Seventy-five percent (75%) of Political Class voters say most Americans get involved in politics to help their country, while 52% of Mainstream voters say it is to protect themselves. The Political Class also expresses more confidence in government programs than in volunteer efforts when it comes to needed change, while Mainstream voters are evenly divided.
Sixty-eight percent (68%) of all voters prefer a government with fewer services and lower taxes rather than a more active one with more services and higher taxes.
Over half (53%) of Americans now believe the federal government is more of a threat to individual rights than a protector.
Voters consistently express a negative view of their elected representatives, and 69% are angry with the current policies of the federal government.
I find myself in the middle. I'm interested and promoting positive government changes (a la the Tea Party) and I'm also interested in protecting myself from the government as much as possible.
The last sentence is a crying shame. My experience has been that it takes 3-6 weeks to get an email response from my Rep and Senators. I don't think that's very responsive. Telephone calls seem to by iffy. Majority of the time I get no answer, or an answering service (and they NEVER call me back) or a staffer that doesn't know anything.
“Voters remain closely divided over whether their fellow countrymen get involved in politics to bring about needed change or to keep the government at bay.”
“Why Politics? 43% Say for Positive Change, 43% to Fend Off Government”
Keeping the government at bay is needed change.
Fending off government is positive change.
My views are in no way split. The only reason for Tea Party involvement or for political involvement is to make the country better - by reducing the wasteful, intrusive, and destructive role of government. I want the Obama regime out of my wallet. I want them out of my underwear (and my underage daughter's pants!). I want them out of my church. If I resume employing others, I want them out of my compensation, hiring, and firing decisions. I have not seen any expansion of government beyond its authorized enumerated powers in the last 40 years than made America better, and I'm not willing to gamble that an anti-American communist will accidentally get it right after 2.5 years of abject failure. The only imaginable positive change that could come from government other than protecting our borders would be less government.
Carry out the specific powers enumerated in the Constitution, but otherwise let's disassemble the federal monstrosity in reverse chronological order, with exceptions only for programs that are both specifically enumerated in the Constitution and objectively not just effective but genuinely cost effective. Goodbye to ObamaCare and every other action of the druggie in our White House, followed by the Department of Education and other programs and departments that waste massive amounts of the wealth generated by productive Americans. Imagine how easy it will be even for those with limited skills to support their families if they don't also have to support federal parasites and those able bodied adults who are by choice wards of the state.
Dims are in politics to bring about change via government, which of course is futile.
Keeping the government at bay (i.e., fending off government) is the positive change we need.
Very well said!
BTTT
I have called one of my senators office’s and been “debated” with by a staffer when I asked to have my concerns noted and passed along to my senator. When I pressed my side of the issue (on health care) they said .. sorry that I don’t agree with you. (Agree with me???) Pass t he information along and tell my senator to vote no on the health care bill ..
My other senator I sent an e-mail to. I was told not to spam the office, that I was committing a crime. A crime for contacting my senator’s office by e-mail to tell them how I wanted them to vote.
I happen to be in the group that is afraid now of the government since it is no longer of the people for the people and by the people. It is of the royalty, for the royalty and by the royalty.
I have been personally told by my senator Jim DeMint that short, written letters have the most impact.
Right now I'm waiting for a response to an email I sent to my Rep Joe (You Lie!) Wilson a week ago.
My senator Lindsey Grahamensty takes about six weeks to reply and always replies by mail, even when I request an email response.
Another tactic is to visit one of their local offices and state your view in person with a written letter to hand deliver.
>I sure hope both your senators are RATS. <
Glilibrand and Schummer ... They don’t make RATS any bigger.
I would go to their office personally, but I KNOW I would never get to see them here. They are royalty I am only a peon .. or more appropriately a PEE ON
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