Pew Research Study Finds that Americans See Broad Responsibilities for Government
From We are America the Beautiful blog on May 18, 2021
A new Pew Research survey was released yesterday that said that Americans believe that the government has broad responsibilities. This has not changed since 2019. The number of American adults who are "basically content" with the federal government is at its highest point since 2004. The public trust that the government will always or most of the time do what is right remains low, while confidence in the future has increased for Democrats since the election.
There are wide partisan, age, and racial divisions on what services the federal government should provide; Republicans as a majority only see clean air and water and K-12 education as the responsibility of the government. Younger Americans feel that the government should provide health insurance, a standard of living, and adequate retirement. Most Minorities feel that the government should provide all of these services compared to White Americans who feel that the government should only provide clean air and water, high-quality K-12 education, and a little over half believe that the government should provide health insurance. The majority of Democrats, Minorities, and younger Americans believe that the federal government should provide five of the seven services while the majority of Republicans and older Americans feel that the government should only provide the first two services:
Clean air and water
87% Total
77% Republicans
95% Democrats
18-29: 91%
30-49: 89%
50-64:84%
65+: 83%
White: 85%
Asian: 90%
Black: 93%
Hispanic: 87%
High-quality K-12 education
79% Total
64% Republicans
91% Democrats
18-29: 87%
30-49: 84%
50-64:73%
65+: 69%
White: 74%
Asian: 91%
Black: 89%
Hispanic: 86%
Health insurance
64% Total
33% Republicans
88% Democrats
18-29: 74%
30-49: 67%
50-64: 60%
65+: 54%
White: 54%
Asian: 73%
Black: 87%
Hispanic: 79%
Adequate retirement
58% Total
40% Republicans
71% Democrats
18-29: 66%
30-49: 60%
50-64: 59%
65+: 45%
White: 49%
Asian: 66%
Black: 74%
Hispanic: 72%
Adequate standard of living
56% Total
32% Republicans
76% Democrats
18-29: 71%
30-49: 58%
50-64: 52%
65+: 42%
White: 47%
Asian: 65%
Black: 78%
Hispanic: 67%
Access to the internet
43% Total
24% Republicans
59% Democrats
18-29: 47%
30-49: 44%
50-64: 40%
65+: 39%
White: 38%
Asian: 53%
Black: 56%
Hispanic: 49%
College Education
39% Total
19% Republicans
55% Democrats
18-29: 55%
30-49: 43%
50-64: 35%
65+: 21%
White: 25%
Asian: 51%
Black: 64%
Hispanic: 65%
Slight decline in Americans' view of whether the government should do more to solve problems or is doing too many things that should be left to businesses to provide:
2020:
Government should do more:
59% Total
32% Republicans
82% Democrats
2021:
Government should do more:
55% Total
23% Republicans
81% Democrats
The public trust in the government remains low but has increased for Democrats since the election.
Trust the government to do what is right all or most of the time:
This year:
24% Total
43% Democrats
13% Republicans
Last year:
9% Democrats
29% Republicans
More Americans feel basically content with the federal government at the highest point since 2004.
29% Total feel content
43% Democrats are content
13% Republicans are content
52% Feel frustrated
17% Feel angry
Confidence in the future of the country has increased for Democrats, decreased for Republicans:
August 2020
66%: Total
76%: Republican
58% Democrat
April 2021
69%: Total
54%: Republican
84%: Democrat
Click on this link to see the results and charts from the Pew Research Study: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/05/17/americans-see-broad-responsibilities-for-government-little-change-since-2019/