A new Gallup poll has found that the mood of voters heading into the 2012 election year is significantly gloomier than it was in 2008 when President Barack Obama was elected, with those expressing concern about the nation’s moral climate reaching record highs.
According to CNSNews.com, the Gallup poll found that Americans are “broadly dissatisfied” on a number of important issues, including the economy, the size and power of the federal government, and the nation’s moral and ethical climate. The poll measured Americans’ level of satisfaction and dissatisfaction on 24 issues, then compared the results to a similar poll conducted in January 2008, ten months before President Obama was elected president.
Not surprisingly, a whopping 83 percent of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the state of the economy; 69 percent are unhappy about the size of government; and the number of people expressing the dissatisfaction in our nation’s moral climate reached a new high of 68 percent.
Other findings include:
• 64 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with immigration
• 70 percent are dissatisfied with the nation’s anti-povery efforts
• 51 percent are upset about the nation’s acceptance of homosexuality
• 61 percent are fed up with how government works
• 65 percent are not satisfied with the availability of affordable health care
• 60 percent are not happy with our Social Security and Medicare programs
• 61 percent don’t like the quality of public education
On the abortion issue, more people were dissatisfied (46%) than satisfied (39%) with the nation’s policies. The satisfaction number in this area declined since the last poll was taken in 2008 when 43 percent of Americans said they were satisfied with U.S. abortion policies.
Americans expressed satisfaction in seven areas, including the overall quality of life (71%), anti-terrorism efforts (72%), the nation’s military strength and preparedness (71%), the influence of organized religion (56%), the opportunity to get ahead through hard work (53%), the state of race relations (51%) and the quality of the environment (51%).
Because Gallup did not poll on all 24 of these issues from 2009-2011, they are unable to definitively say that declines in satisfaction began at the end of President George W. Bush’s term, or since Obama took office.
“Nevertheless, it is clear that the national mood at the beginning of this presidential election year is quite different from the mood at the start of the last one,” the polling organization says.
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