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Tuesday, July 1st, 2014

Americans Losing Confidence in All Branches of U.S. Gov’t

Author:     JUSTIN MCCARTHY
Source:     The Gallup Organization
Publication Date:     30-Jun-14
 Link: Americans Losing Confidence in All Branches of U.S. Gov’t
Stephan:   One of the surest signs of the collapse of American democracy is the extremely poor opinion most Americans have about the institutions of government. This latest Gallup Poll makes the point very clearly. In terms of bills passed, actual work done, this is the worst Congress in American history. And 93% of Americans recognize this. Think about that. More than nine out of 10 of us have no confidence in the Congress. This is also reflected in the growing number of corrupt and moronic men and women serving in Congress. The same thing is happening with the Supreme Court which, as it showed today with the Hobby Lobby case, is blatantly in the pocket of the uber rich and the corporations they control. The leading Judicial institution, the source of the last word on interpreting the laws now has only three people out of ten with any confidence in the court. It's not hard to see why. If you read actual rulings as I do, you see reasoning from the Right wing Justices that is openly ideological and non-fact based. The very idea that profit making corporations are people and that they have religious beliefs is an example of what I mean. Read Justice Ginsburg's dissent to see her insider's view.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ confidence in all three branches of the U.S. government has fallen, reaching record lows for the Supreme Court (30%) and Congress (7%), and a six-year low for the presidency (29%). The presidency had the largest drop of the three branches this year, down seven percentage points from its previous rating of 36%.

Americans’ Level of Confidence in the Three Branches of Government

These data come from a June 5-8 Gallup poll asking Americans about their confidence in 16 U.S. institutions — within government, business, and society — that they either read about or interact with.

While Gallup recently reported a historically low rating of Congress, Americans have always had less confidence in Congress than in the other two branches of government. The Supreme Court and the presidency have alternated being the most trusted branch of government since 1991, the first year Gallup began asking regularly about all three branches.

But on a relative basis, Americans’ confidence in all three is eroding. Since June 2013, confidence has fallen seven points for the presidency, four points for the Supreme Court, and three points for Congress. Confidence in each of the three branches of government had already fallen from 2012 to 2013.

Americans’ Confidence […]

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