Less than a quarter of Americans (23%) believe the federal government truly reflects the will of the people.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that most adults (63%) disagree, while another 14% are undecided.

Those results slightly more positive than those found in a survey taken last June, when only 17% said the government represented the will of the people and 68% said the opposite.

In December 2006, only 16% believed the government reflected the will of the people, while 68% said it did not.

Twenty-three percent (23%) of both men and women believe the government reflects the will of the people. However, while 67% of men disagree, 58% of women do the same. Slightly more women (19%) than men (10%) are undecided.

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Nearly a third (31%) of African-Americans believes the government represents the will of the people, a jump from 13% in June 2008. Only 40% of blacks disagree, compared to 77% last summer. Twenty-two percent (22%) of white adults take the more positive view, up from 16% in the last poll. Sixty-six percent (66%) do not think the government represents the will of the people, down from 70% in June.

The number of Democrats who say the government represents the will of the people more than doubled since the last survey, from 15% to 37%. Only 44% of Democrats disagree, compared to 71% last June. Another 19% are undecided.

On the other side, the number of Republicans who believe the government represents the people dropped by more than half. Just 11% of GOP voters take that view, compared to 24% last June. Eighty-two percent (82%) of Republicans take the opposite view now, compared to just 59% in the last poll. Opinions among unaffiliated voters remained fairly constant, with 15% who say the government represents the people, up from 12%, and 68% who say the opposite, compared to 74%.

While more than one in four investors (27%) say the government represents the will of the people, only 18% of non-investors agree.

Rising Republican opposition has caused the number who strongly approve of Barack Obama’s job performance to slip slightly over the past few days, though the president’s overall approval ratings have remained steady.

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