Bad news for Democrats in new polling

AP reports that a new Pew Research poll finds that 80 percent of Americans do not trust Washington. When you consider that Democrats control all the levers of political power in Washington right now that is a pretty firm rejection. Public confidence in government is at an all time low.

That is especially bad news for Democrats because they tend to see government as the answer to all our woes.

Andrew Kohut has more on the poll.

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Opinions about elected officials are particularly poor. Just 25% have a favorable opinion of Congress while 65% have an unfavorable view—the lowest favorable ratings for Congress in more than two decades of Pew Research center surveys.

Favorable ratings for federal agencies and institutions have fallen since 1997-98 for seven of 13 federal agencies included in the survey. The declines have been particularly large for the Department of Education, the Food and Drug Administration, the Social Security Administration, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As in the past, poor performance is the most persistent criticism of the federal government. But increasingly Americans say that government has the wrong priorities and that has a negative effect on their day-to-day lives. Sixty-two percent say that government policies unfairly benefit some groups, while nearly as many (56%) say that government does not do enough to help average Americans.

There is also growing concern about the size and power of the federal government. The public is now evenly divided over whether federal government programs should be maintained to deal with important problems or cut back greatly to reduce the power of government.

A desire for smaller government is particularly evident since Barack Obama took office....

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Obama and the Democrats have been swimming against this tide and they are likely to get a firm rejection this fall.