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POLITICS

38% Agree With Perry’s Goal of Making Washington, DC Inconsequential, 34% Don’t

Texas Governor Rick Perry recently caused a stir when he told voters it was his goal to make Washington, D.C. as inconsequential as possible in their lives. But voters are closely divided over whether that’s such a good idea.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 38% of Likely U.S. Voters agree with the goal of making Washington as inconsequential as possible in the lives of Americans. But 34% disagree with that goal, and nearly as many (28%) are undecided about it. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Perry has jumped to a double-digit lead over Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, and 56% of GOP voters agree with his stated goal of making the Nation’s Capital inconsequential. But a plurality (48%) of Democrats disagrees with Perry’s goal. Among voters not affiliated with either party, 39% favor Perry’s idea, 35% don’t.

Seventy-three percent (73%) of Tea Party members share Perry’s enthusiasm for lessening the importance of Washington and the federal government, compared to just 28% of those who are not part of the grassroots movement.

Sixty-seven percent (67%) of the Political Class rejects Perry’s goal, while a plurality (45%) of Mainstream voters approves of it.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 23-24, 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.

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