Sixty-six percent (66%) of U.S. voters prefer a smaller government with fewer services and lower taxes over a more active government with more services and higher taxes.

That's the second highest finding of the year: In August at the height of the congressional town hall controversies over the health care plan, 70% felt that way.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 22% prefer a government with more services and higher taxes. Eleven percent (11%) aren't sure which is best.

Eighty-eight percent (88%) of Republicans and 63% of voters not affiliated with either major party like a smaller government better. Democrats are more narrowly divided: 51% favor a smaller government, but 37% opt for a larger, more activist government.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of liberals chose a government with more services and higher taxes. Eighty-six percent (86%) of conservatives think a smaller government is better.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of all voters say tax cuts are a better way than more government spending to create jobs and fight unemployment. Only 21% say additional stimulus spending is a more effective tool.

Voters overwhelmingly believe that the bigger problem in the United States is the unwillingness of politicians to control government spending rather than voters' unwillingness to pay enough in taxes.

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Seventy four percent (74%) of voters say U.S. society is generally fair and decent, up seven points from early November and the highest level measured in two years. Just 17% percent disagree and feel society is generally unfair and discriminatory, the lowest level measured since November 2006.

Whites are more inclined than African-Americans and voters of other ethnicities to believe U.S. society is generally fair and decent.

Just under half (49%) of voters nationwide believe President Obama views American society as generally unfair and discriminatory, while 36% say he sees society as fair and decent. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure. These findings have remained fairly consistent since late July.

Thirty-six percent (36%) believe America’s best days are in the future, up slightly from early November. Meanwhile, 47% say America’s best days are in the past, down five points from the previous survey. Seventeen percent (17%) are not sure.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of voters also now believe it would be better for our allies to follow America's lead more often. This is up 12 points from when Obama took office in January and is the highest level measured since Rasmussen Reports began regularly tracking this question in November 2007.

Just eight percent (8%) now say it would be better for the United States to do what our allies want more often. That's the lowest level measured in a little over two years. In November 2007, 29% of Americans felt America should follow our allies more often. Since then, the number of voters who feel this way has steadily declined.

But 23% of voters say the president thinks it’s would be better for the United States to do what our allies want more often. The plurality (47%) feels the president believes it would be better for our allies to do what the United States wants more often, the highest level measured since the beginning of the year.

The latest survey was conducted a little over a week after the president detailed his plan, for winning – and ending – the war in Afghanistan in a speech at West Point. Fifty-three percent (53%) of voters support his plan to send another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, and nearly as many (47%) support his plan to begin withdrawing troops from that war-torn country in 18 months. But put them together, and overall support for the plan falls to 37%.

In his speech, the president stressed how important it is for America’s NATO allies to pitch in. However, 61% of voters are not confident that America's NATO allies will help us win the war in Afghanistan.

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