68% Expect DC Politics to Become Even More Partisan

While voters feel stronger than they have in a year that politics in Washington will grow more partisan in the near future, they say Democrats in Congress are behaving more bipartisan than Republicans are.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 26% now believe Congressional Democrats are acting on a bipartisan basis, but 59% say they are acting like partisan Democrats. Another 15% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Nineteen percent (19%) believe Congressional Republicans are generally acting on a bi-partisan basis, a finding that has ranged from 17% to 27% since early 2009. Sixty-five percent (65%) believe GOP members of Congress are acting like partisan Republicans, while 16% more are undecided.

But overall, 68% of voters believe politics in Washington, DC will grow more partisan over the next year. While that’s up just one point from July, it is the highest level measured in a year. Only 12% believe politics in the nation’s capitol will grow more cooperative during that time, the lowest finding since March 2009. Another 19% are undecided.

When it comes to the president, 37% believe Barack Obama is governing on a bipartisan basis. This finding has ranged from 26% to 42% since he took office in January 2009. Forty-seven percent (47%) say the president is governing more like a partisan Democrat, while 15% are not sure.

Sixty-five percent (65%) feel it’s at least somewhat likely the next president after Obama will be a Republican.  Twenty-eight percent (28%) say that’s not likely to happen.  These figures include 36% who say it’s Very Likely but only five percent (5%) who believe it’s Not At All Likely.  This is in keeping with findings since the beginning of last year. It is important to note that the question does not specify whether the president after Obama will be elected in 2012 or 2016.

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The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters nationwide was conducted on August 11-12, 2011 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.