81% of Americans don’t believe govt. knows what to do

A recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center before October 16 showed just 19% say that they trust the government to do what is right just about always or most of the time, down seven points since January.

The share of the public saying they are angry at the federal government, which equaled an all-time high in late September (26%), has ticked up to 30%. Another 55% say they are frustrated with the government. Just 12% say they are basically content with the federal government.

Despite highly negative views of the federal government overall, the public has favorable views of many of its agencies and departments, which were closed by the shutdown.

Majorities have favorable opinions of 12 of 13 agencies tested – with the IRS the lone exception (44% favorable).

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted Oct. 9-13 among 1, 504 adults, finds that just 23% have a favorable opinion of Congress, while 73% have an unfavorable view.

Dissatisfaction with Congress also is seen in record anti-incumbent sentiment.

In general, the public continues to blame lawmakers themselves – rather than the political system more generally – for the problems in Congress.

Nearly six-in-ten (58%) say “the political system can work fine, it’s the members of Congress that are the problem.” Just 32% say “most members of Congress have good intentions, it’s the political system that is broken”.

Since 2010, more have consistently placed more blame on members of Congress than the political system. Notably, majorities of Democrats (64%), Republicans (57%) and independents (55%) say it is members of Congress, rather than the political system, that are more to blame.

The US government partially shut down on October 1 after the divided Congress failed to pass a budget. Dragging on for 16 days, the shutdown cost the country’s economy several billion dollars.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has put the cost at least $24 billion. According to its estimate, the shutdown slashed the fourth-quarter GDP growth by at least 0.6 percentage point.

According to New York Times, the shutdown “will cost the economy $3.1 billion in gross domestic product from lost government services.”

“There will also be some impact from lost private-sector jobs tied to the shutdown, as well as a loss of consumer and business confidence resulting from the debt-ceiling showdown”, it added.

And based on a report by the USA Today, the estimates of the shutdown toll “range from $12 billion to $24 billion for the U.S. economy, or as much as $1.5 billion per day, and as many as 250,000 jobs”.