Voters See A More Divided Nation; GOPers More Enthusiastic to Vote
RasmussenReports.com
Voters strongly believe the United States is a more divided nation these days, and they think both sides are to blame. Most are also ready to do something about it at the ballot box in November.
Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Likely U.S. Voters say America is a more divided nation than it was four years ago. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just seven percent (7%) think the country is less divided now, while 21% rate the level of division as about the same.(To see survey question wording, click here.)
Among voters who see more division or about the same level of it, 35% believe President Obama is to blame. But 34% point the finger at Republicans in Congress instead. Twenty-three percent (23%) say they’re both to blame. Just five percent (5%) attribute the division to something else.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) of all voters say they are more likely to vote this year than they have been in past elections. Only four percent (4%) say they are less likely to do so, while 38% rate their intention to vote as about the same as in past years.
Perhaps problematic for Democrats is that 65% of GOP voters and 55% of voters not affiliated with either major party are more likely to vote this year, compared to 53% of those in the president’s party. But that could change as the election gets nearer.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of voters nationwide are at least somewhat confident that the candidates they vote for will steer the country in the right direction, but that includes just 19% who are Very Confident. Thirty-three percent (33%) lack that confidence, with seven percent (7%) who are Not At All Confident that their candidates will make a difference.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 17-18, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Fifty-four percent (54%) of voters think Republicans are likely to win the Senate in November, putting them in charge of the entire Congress, while just 40% feel Democrats are likely to take control of the House of Representatives away from the GOP.
Forty-six percent (46%) say given the state of politics in America today, they are following political news more closely than they have in the past. Fifteen percent (15%) are following political news less these days, while 39% say their level of attention to that kind of news is about the same. Republicans are following political news much more closely now than Democrats and unaffiliated voters are.
Eighty-three percent (83%) of all voters believe most of their fellow Americans are not informed voters.
Eighty percent (80%) of Republicans and 69% of unaffiliated voters think America is a more divided nation than it was four years ago, a view shared by 55% of Democrats.
Predictably, 71% of GOP voters blame the president, while 67% of Democrats blame Republicans in Congress. Among unaffiliated voters, 31% say Obama’s at fault, 25% say congressional Republicans, and 31% lay the blame on both of them. Republicans are more confident than the others that the candidates they vote for will steer the country in the right direction.
Just 25% of voters nationwide now believe the country is headed in the right direction, the lowest finding since early December. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Republicans and 73% of unaffiliated voters think the country is on the wrong track. Democrats are evenly divided.
Eighty-three percent (83%) of working Americans identify themselves as middle class, and more voters than ever (67%) think the U.S. economy is unfair to the middle class.
Critics have called for Obama’s impeachment and for lawsuits challenging his executive actions, but most voters nix both ideas. Better, they say, to elect an opposition Congress.
Only eight percent (8%) rate Congress’ performance these days as good or excellent. Just 25% think their member of Congress deserves reelection. Most Republican voters continue to believe that their representatives in Congress have lost touch with the party’s base over the last several years, while most Democrats believe their Congress members have done a good job representing what their party stands for.
Voters still expect Republicans to repeal Obamacare if they take control of Congress in November.
See our most recent numbers from the Senate races in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia,Idaho, ,Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Carolina (special),South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
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