50% Believe Fed Government Has Too Much Influence Over States, 11% Say Not Enough
Thursday, August 25, 2011
to home rather than the federal government and worry that the team in DC has too much influence over state governments. However, Democrats and those who are politically liberal take an entirely different view.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 50% of Likely Voters believe the federal government has too much influence over state governments. Just 11% think the federal government does not have enough influence while 26% believe the balance is about right. Thirteen percent (13%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
On the question of which branch of government does a better job, 33% pick local governments, 23% look to the state level, and 15% prefer the federal government. Twenty-nine percent (29%) are not sure.
These results come at a time when just 17% believe the federal government has the consent of the governed and only 14% believe the country is generally heading in the right direction.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 21-22, 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.
Seventy-five percent (75%) of Republicans believe the federal government has too much power over the states while a plurality of Democrats (37%) believe the balance is about right. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 52% say the federal government has too much influence while 9% say not enough.
The dynamics are similar on the question of which branch of government does best. A solid plurality of Republicans and unaffiliated voters point to local governments with very little support for the federal government. Among Democrats, 27% say the federal government does the best job, 18% say local governments, and 16% name state governments. However, 38% of Democrats are not sure on this question.
On an ideological basis, the results are similar. Conservatives and moderates tend to think the federal government has too much influence over the states while liberals believe the balance is about right.
Most supporters of the Political Class believe the balance is about right while most Mainstream Voters believe the federal government has too much influence.
Polling earlier this year found that 54% of voters believe individual states should have the right to opt out of the health care plan passed by Congress last year. |
