Fewer Voters Than Ever Say Obama Thinks Society is Fair and Decent

For the first time since he became president, only 35% of voters say Barack Obama thinks society is fair and decent. That’s almost half as many as voters who hold that belief themselves.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 49%, on the other hand, say Obama thinks society is unfair and discriminatory. Another 16% are not sure how Obama feels about society.  (To see survey question wording, click here.)

But those views are not at all in line with voters’ views. Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters feel society is fair and decent, while just 24% disagree and think it is unfair and discriminatory. Another 13% are not sure. That’s a higher level of optimism than voters had a month ago.

Yet, in August, 69% of Americans thought their fellow countrymen were becoming more rude and less civilized.

When it comes to foreign policy, 63% of voters say our allies should do what the United States wants, the highest level of support to date, though only slightly higher than support in late 2009. Just 11% say the U.S. should do what our allies want, while 23% do not support either option.

Voters feel Obama’s views are slightly more in line with theirs regarding foreign policy. One-in-four voters (25%) say Obama thinks it’s better for the United States to do what our allies want, while 47% say the opposite. Twenty-two percent (22%) do not think Obama agrees with either option.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on December 15-16, 2010 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.