Huge majority of Americans dissatisfied with way U.S. is being governed
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Twenty-eight percent are satisfied and 71% are dissatisfied, slightly more negative than last September when 33% were satisfied and 67% dissatisfied, Gallup found.
Gallup has updated this measure annually since 2001, and four times before that between 1971 and 1991.
Since 2004, however, satisfaction with the way the nation is governed has consistently been below 50%.
The low points came in 2011 (19%) after the U.S. credit rating was downgraded in response to a deal to raise the federal debt limit, and in October 2013 (18%) during that month's federal government shutdown.
The current level of 28% satisfaction is up modestly from these lows, but is down from last year's 33% and continues the pattern of negativity seen for over a decade.
Americans' views of the nation's governance are closely related to the occupant of the White House, as would be expected.
Republicans were more positive than Democrats about governance during the George W. Bush years, and Democrats were more satisfied than Republicans when Barack Obama was in the White House.
Now, with a Republican president again in charge, Republicans' satisfaction level has jumped, while Democrats' has dropped.
Democrats' low satisfaction level is essentially tied for the lowest on record since 2001. ■