Officials are selfish and self interested!, 【 Perspective 】 Most Americans are very disappointed with the political system: the political process is embroiled in partisan disputes

Screenshots of relevant reports on the Pew Research Center website

On September 20th, local time, the Pew Research Center released a new study on Americans' views on the current state of political systems. The survey found that the majority of Americans have a very negative view of the political system and elected officials, with little hope of improvement. They stated that the political process is dominated by special interest groups, filled with campaign funds, and mired in partisan disputes. Elected officials are selfish and inefficient.

A survey shows that only 4% of people believe that the political system in the United States is operating very well. About 60% of people have little or no confidence in the future of the American political system.

According to the survey, Americans have a historically low positive view of many governments and political institutions. Only 16% of the public stated that they always or mostly trust the federal government. Although trust has been hovering near historical lows for most of the past 20 years, today it is at its lowest level in nearly 70 years. There are more Americans who hold a negative view of the Supreme Court than those who hold a positive view, which is the first time this situation has occurred since the late 1980s.

More and more people are disliking both the Democratic and Republican parties. Nearly 30% of people hold negative views on both parties, the highest proportion in 30 years. 25% of people believe that neither party can fully represent them.

Nearly two-thirds of people said they always or often feel tired when thinking about politics, while 55% feel angry. By contrast, only 10% of people say they always or often hold hope for politics.

When asked to summarize their feelings about the political system with a single word or phrase, only a very small number of people use positive vocabulary; 79% of people use negative or critical vocabulary, with "division" and "corruption" appearing the most frequently.

The survey found that the public also holds a highly critical attitude towards the impact of party polarization on politics. More than 80% of people believe that Republicans and Democrats are more focused on fighting each other rather than solving problems. When asked to describe the biggest problem with the political system in their own words, 22% of people mentioned party polarization or lack of party cooperation. Most people still believe that the conflict between Republicans and Democrats is receiving too much attention nowadays. 78% of people believe that people pay too little attention to the important issues facing the country.

The public's belief that special interest groups and campaign donors have too much influence on politics is not new. Since the 1970s, most people have said that the government is managed by a few large interest groups solely for their own benefit, rather than for the benefit of the entire people. However, money and politics have repeatedly become the main source of public disappointment.

A survey shows that the vast majority of people believe that the cost of political campaigns makes it difficult for outstanding people to run for public office. 81% of people stated that members of Congress have done very poorly or relatively poorly in separating their personal economic interests from congressional work. The vast majority of people believe that large campaign donors, lobbyists, and special interest groups have too much influence on the decisions of congressmen.

When asked about the reasons why local and national officials run for public office, relatively few people say that these people run to serve the public or address their concerns. On the contrary, most people say that the motivation of all or most politicians to run is for their own interests, with 63% saying that the purpose of all or most politicians running is to make big money.

The results of this new study are mainly based on survey data from 8480 adults conducted from July 10 to 16, 2023, and survey data from 5115 adults conducted from June 5 to 11, 2023.

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