Poll:

Most Americans want major changes in the way US government works

The majority of Americans want fundamental changes in the way the US government works, after more than two years of Donald Trump’s presidency, according to a new survey.

News ID: 444654

Date: 03 May 2019 - 18:37

RNA - Some 54 percent of Americans think the country’s governing system needs major changes and 12 percent believe it should be completely replaced, based on a poll by the University of Chicago Harris School for Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The poll finds that discontent with the government system is closely tied with policy concerns.

"Right now we're being shown all of the loopholes, the president being able to do all the things that no president should," Andrea Petrusky, a 46-year-old elementary school teacher who lives near Seattle, Washington, told the AP.

"It's time to update what he's allowed to do and not do. I think it's time to toddler-proof the presidency," she said.

While 61 percent of Democrats want big changes, 52 percent of Republicans do as well.

Even most Trump supporters like Don Conford think there needs to be big changes in the way the US government works, like term limits for members of Congress. The 54-year-old runs his own small construction business near Los Angeles, California, and thinks government is corrupt.

"These politicians get into office, and they just sit there and sit there and sit there," said Conford, who goes without health insurance because he can't afford it. "It's immigrants' rights and criminals' rights up and down the board, and us hardworking citizens have to pay for it."

Conford is part of the 70 percent of Americans who feel that people like them have too little influence on the government. In contrast, 81 percent think wealthy people have too much sway and 78 percent think large businesses have too much power in Washington.

Lashaunte Halliburton is a 30-year-old unemployed mother of three in Dyersburg, Tennessee, is upset Trump has cut housing assistance for low-income mothers.

"He's got money, so it's not hard on him, and it's not hard on his family," Halliburton said. "He's not thinking about us."

The poll also found that African Americans are 14 percent more likely than white Americans to think the system needs a complete replacement.

Many voters are also frustrated at how the Republican Party has been able to retain its power despite Trump losing the popular vote in the 2016 US presidential election.

Still, the poll shows that close to 3 in 10 Americans say the government can't work well no matter who is elected.

Tara Marsh sees government as inherently bloated and inefficient. And she's unhappy with much in public life -- the way people treat each other, the spread of pornography and of what she sees as excessive transgender rights.

But the 51-year-old office administrator and registered Republican in Bend, Oregon, doesn't think there's much government can do about it. "The government can't fix the human heart," she said.

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