Since 1965, Gallup has asked Americans what they think is the biggest threat to the U.S. Traditionally, most Americans have answered “big government.” This year, it is no different.
However, what is notable is that Gallup found that a majority of Democrats believe that big government is more threatening than big business. After all the effort that’s been put into attacking business, capitalism, and the free market system in general, it might be a bit unexpected that Democrats still feel more threatened by big government.
Are Democrats acknowledging that the biggest threat to this country is not a merger betweenAT&T and T-Mobile but, rather, the unholy alliance between the Washington political machine and the career politicians who have made a fine living sucking from the public teat?
Here are the results form Gallup:
Source: Gallup
However, it’s just a poll and the results should be taken with a grain of salt.
[Author’s note: Whenever the results of a poll are discussed on The Blaze, this author is careful to note the inaccuracies inherent in polling data due to question wording and the respondents themselves. One must consider all of the possible sampling errors before presenting the findings from a poll as solid, concrete truth.]
But let’s indulge in the poll’s findings anyway, shall we?
“Americans’ concerns about the threat of big government continue to dwarf those about big business and big labor, and by an even larger margin now than in March 2009,” writes Elizabeth Mendes of Gallup. “The 64% of Americans who say big government will be the biggest threat to the country is just one percentage point shy of the record high, while the 26% who say big business is down from the 32% recorded during the recession. Relatively few name big labor as the greatest threat.
“Almost half of Democrats now say big government is the biggest threat to the nation, more than say so about big business, and far more than were concerned about big government in March 2009,” Mendes reports. “The 32% of Democrats concerned about big government at that time — shortly after President Obama took office — was down significantly from a reading in 2006, when George W. Bush was president.”
And here’s the money quote: “Lower percentages of Democrats, Republicans, and independents are now concerned about big business than was the case in 2009.”
Source: Gallup
So what does this all mean?
“Americans’ concerns about the threat of big government are near record-high levels,” Mendes concludes.
“The Occupy Wall Street movement, focused on ‘fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations,’ has drawn much attention and a large following,” Mendes continues, “Still, the majority of Americans do not view big business as the greatest threat to the country when asked to choose among big business, big government, and big labor. In fact, Americans’ concerns about big business have declined significantly since 2009.”
Therefore, if the Gallup data is correct, Occupy Wall Street’s anti-big business message is simply not resonating with majorities in any party.
“Republicans, independents, and now close to half of Democrats are more concerned about the threat of big government than that coming from big business,” Mendes flatly concludes.
Would it be fair to say that even after all of their demonstrations, all of the media attention and all of the coddling from politicians, celebrities, and media figures that the Occupy movement has failed?
Inversely, because a majority of Americans are most worried about big government*, would it be fair to say that the Tea Party, whose sole purpose is to reduce the size of government, has succeeded?
Wouldn’t that be something?
(h/t Weasel Zippers)
*According to Gallup.
