Public complaints about life in America fuel campaign rhetoric. But these complaints are very real. Dissatisfied, alarmed voters say life isn’t what it used to be, and it’s driving their politics.
An extensive new Pew Research Center survey reveals that overall, 46 percent of registered voters say life in America today is worse than it was 50 years ago “for people like them.” The partisan divide here is epic. Among Republicans, 66 percent say life has gotten worse in this country — compared to 28 percent of Democrats.
“Among GOP voters, fully 75 percent of those who support Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination say life for people like them has gotten worse, compared with 63 percent of Ted Cruz supporters and 54 percent of those who back John Kasich,” the survey noted.
“While Democratic voters generally express more positive views of how life in the U.S. has changed over the past 50 years, those who favor Bernie Sanders are more negative (34 percent say life has gotten worse) than those who support Hillary Clinton (22 percent)
Those in charge are not exempt from public ire. Only 17 percent of voters are “content” with the federal government; 59 percent are frustrated and another 22 percent are downright angry. Still, they don’t much care for anger on the campaign trail.
“In a campaign that has been punctuated by harsh personal attacks, 68 percent of registered voters say that ’personally insulting political opponents is never fair game.’ Just 30 percent say personal attacks are sometimes fair game,” the poll noted.
The source for the number is a Pew Research Center poll of 1,787 registered U.S. voters conducted March 17-27.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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