69% Still Angry At Government's Current Policies

Midterm elections and a change of power in the U.S. House of Representatives haven't lowered the level of voter discontent with the federal government and the leaders of the two major political parties.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 69% of Likely U.S. Voters remain at least somewhat angry with the current policies of the federal government, up slightly from 65% last August. Just 25% don't share that anger. These findings include 38% who are Very Angry versus only 12% who say they are Not At All Angry. (To see survey question wording, click here).

In surveys since September 2009, those angry at the government have ranged from 66% to 75%. Those who are Very Angry have run from 33% to 46%.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters also still agree with the statement that neither Republican nor Democratic political leaders have a good understanding of what is needed today. Twenty-eight percent (28%) disagree with that statement, while 15% more are undecided about it.

These findings, too, have changed very little since September 2009.

The Political Class has a much different perspective on both questions, however. While 83% of Mainstream voters are angry at the government's current policies, 76% of those in the Political Class are not. Seventy percent (70%) of those in the Mainstream think the leaders of both political parties lack a good understanding of what is needed now, but 68% of Political Class voters disagree.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters U.S. Voters was conducted on March 26-27, 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.