Amid a presidential campaign dominated by political outsiders, a new poll shows widespread voter dissatisfaction and frustration over the direction of the country.
Just 2% of Americans say they’re “very satisfied” with the way things are going in the U.S., according to a Quinnipiac poll released on Monday. A full 71% of Americans said they were dissatisfied with the state of the nation; of that number, 41% are “very dissatisfied.” In total, more than a quarter of Americans said their frustration transcended dissatisfaction and landed on anger.
Americans don’t trust the federal government. Just 2% of voters said they could trust government in Washington to do what is right “almost all the time,” according to the poll. A majority said they could trust the federal government “some of the time.”
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The survey quantified some of the frustration that has been echoed on the campaign trail this summer, with voters flocking toward the campaigns of Republican candidates like Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson, who have never been elected before, and Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders, who vows a systemic overhaul of the political system.
“People in America are sick and tired of politicians,” one Iowa conservative told msnbc earlier this month. “That’s why Donald Trump, I think, is polling well, though I don’t think he’ll be able to sustain it.” The Quinnipiac poll found that the country is split on which party they want to win control of Congress in 2016, but it’s clear that voters are dissatisfied with lawmakers currently in office. Republicans in Congress earned the most disdain of any group, with 81% of Americans disapproving of the party’s work in Congress, according to the poll. Sixty-six percent of voters disapproved of the way Democrats in Congress handled their job, as well. Both major parties, and the tea party, earned net negative ratings, with 50% disapproving of the Democratic Party, 58% disapproving of the GOP and 45% disapproving of the tea party. President Obama’s approval rating ticked up slightly to 45%, but 53% of voters still disapprove of his job performance.
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