What They Told Us: Week Ending November 2

Zombie nation?  For a sizable number of Americans, it’s a better alternative than the government we’ve got.

Thirty-seven percent (37%) of American Adults believe zombies would do a better job than the federal government running the country today. An equal number (37%) have more confidence in the feds, but another 26% can’t decide between the two.

This should come as no surprise given that 64% of Likely U.S. Voters now view the federal government unfavorably, with 34% who have a Very Unfavorable opinion of it.

Case in point: Obamacare, which is off to such a shambling start that even some Democrats are questioning it.

Voters overwhelmingly want to scrap or change the new health care law, with 43% who want to repeal it entirely and start over and 35% who would prefer Congress go through the law piece by piece to improve it. Just 18% want to leave the law as is. But voters are evenly divided over whether Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should lose her job because of the law's troubled debut.

Voters remain overwhelmingly positive about the health care they receive, although they are less enthusiastic about the overall U.S. health care system. But 52% continue to predict that health care in this country will get worse under Obamacare. 

Just 25% of voters believe the United States is heading in the right direction. Still, that’s the first time since just before the government shutdown began on October 1 that over 20% have felt that way.

The president’s total job approval inched up a point to 49% in October, a month that saw both the implementation of the health care law and the partial shutdown. The president’s daily job approval ratings have been worsening this week, though, as more bad news about the health care law emerges. 

As for one of Obama’s possible successors, 43% of voters think the circumstances surrounding the murder of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya will hurt Hillary Clinton’s chances for the presidency in 2016. 

Voters are evenly divided at 42% apiece when asked whether they agree more politically with the president or with the average member of the Tea Party. However, there’s an enormous partisan divide. When it comes to the major issues facing the nation, 77% of Democrats say Obama’s views are closest to their own. Seventy-six percent (76%) of Republicans and 51% of unaffiliated voters identify more closely with the average member of the Tea Party.

Democrats hold a six-point lead over Republicans – 43% to 37% - on the latest Generic Congressional Ballot. 

The economy doesn’t seem to offer much reassurance about how the federal government’s been doing.

Five years after the Wall Street meltdown, a plurality (48%) of voters still believes the government bailouts of the financial industry were a bad move. 

Most consumers and investors believe the country is still in a recession. 

Only 33% of Americans believe the U.S. economy will be stronger in a year's time, while 41% think it will grow weaker by then. 

Just 38% say the economy is fair to people who are willing to work hard, a new low. 

Fewer than half (47%) of Americans believe it’s still possible for anyone in this country looking for work to find a job. 

Only 24% think the stock market will be higher a year from now. 

In other surveys last week:

-- Rasmussen Reports’ final survey of the Virginia gubernatorial race finds Democrat Terry McAuliffe with a seven-point lead over Republican Ken Cuccinelli – 43% to 36%. 

-- Sixty-nine percent (69%) of voters favor the use of unmanned drone aircraft to kill al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists overseas, even though 64% believe it’s at least somewhat likely that drone strikes overseas have killed more innocent civilians than the U.S. government is officially reporting. 

-- Just 18% favor the use of unmanned drones by police agencies in the United States. 

-- Forty-one percent (41%) of Americans think the U.S. legal system worries too much about the separation of church and state. 

-- When we asked what America thinks about driving, we discovered some interesting things. 

-- Most Americans put their family and friends before their pet, but for one-in-10, their pet comes first. 

-- While most adults don’t dress up in a costume or go trick or treating, 61% of Americans think Halloween is children and adults. Even though many schools don’t allow it, 63% believe students should be allowed to wear costumes and bring candy to school for Halloween. 

-- Twenty-five percent (25%) of Americans believe in ghosts. 

-- Daylight Saving Time ends tonight, but only 36% think there is still a need for DST in America today. 

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