Plan B Forum

Americans more downbeat than at any time since Carter, poll says

Published January 23, 2013

FoxNews.com




WASHINGTON – As President Obama begins his second term, he is facing an increasingly pessimistic public who believes that America's best days are behind them.

According to a recently released Gallup poll, 39 percent of Americans rated the current climate of the country as positive. That's about the same as it was in 2010 -- and has been the lowest recorded by Gallup since President Jimmy Carter's term in 1979.

Gallup asked Americans to rate their feelings about the country today, five years from now and five years ago. Based on a scale of 0 to 10, the 39 percent of Americans gave a 6-to-10 rating when asked to evaluate the nation's current climate.

Taken together with the 2010 reading, that's just above where the country was at the end of the Carter term -- when inflation was high and the economy was reeling. At that time, just 34 percent had a positive outlook.

Optimism steadily rose after 1979, peaking in about 2001 at 73 percent -- since the 9/11 terror attacks, national optimism has steadily declined.

Now, with unemployment slightly below 8 percent and economic growth continuing at a meager pace, a similar malaise may be setting in. Even the outlook on the future is down. Forty-eight percent were upbeat about where the country will be in five years, also the lowest since 1979.

The survey also found that most Americans' attitudes toward the status of the country are connected to their political views. Republicans believe that when there is a GOP president in power, things are better. The same rings true of Democrats and their mood based on the party in power.

When it comes to the future, the polling agency found a 60 percentage-point partisan difference in optimism. Only 15 percent of Republicans felt positive about the future, compared to 75 percent of Democrats.

The Gallup poll results are based on telephone interviews conducted Jan. 7-10, 2012, with 1,011 adults. There is a 4 percentage point margin of error.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01 ... z2IrV3DuZS

Econoline wrote:For comparison, the Department of Defense has around 3,200,000 employees (approx. 650,000 of them civilians), the Department of Veterans Affairs has around 278,000 employees, and the Department of Homeland Security has around 210,000 employees.

I am not an economy major (not even a minor) so I have no idea if fed spending more will boost or bust the economy. I did hear that the State Department (during HRC's "lack of" testimony on Bengazi) 70,000 employees. !?!?!?!?!?!?!? WTF!?!?!? Now I have no idea what the state department entails, but for one department to have 70,000 employees!?!?!?!?!??!??!?!!?!?

I don't mean to pick on you, but I find this, "Let's cut the State Department!" , "Let's cut defense spending by 50%, no that's not enough, let's cut it by two thirds!" , "Let's close all US foreign military bases!" etc, neo-isolationist rhetoric that we've seen on this board recently, (from both The Left and The Right) to be all part of a well intended but misguided piece...

Lord Jim wrote:I find this ... neo-isolationist rhetoric that we've seen on this board recently, (from both The Left and The Right) to be all part of a well intended but misguided piece...

I understand the motivation, especially in such difficult economic times, but we tried the, "let's just take care of ourselves and the rest of the world can go fuck itself!" approach back in the 20's and 30's....

It ended badly....

When someone can explain how "isolationism" caused the catastrophic income inequality of the 20s or the Dust Bowl of the 30s, that person will deserve being taken seriously.

A right-wing shibboleth.