The Polling Center at Jackson State University’s Institute of Government released a national survey of 1,000 adults that was conducted Dec. 7-13, 2016.
Among the results:
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Systems and institutions Americans see working well: the U.S. military, communities, local government, families and religion
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Systems and institutions Americans see as broken – political parties, the federal government, the national news media, and educational systems
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Going into 2017, the issues named as most important include: healthcare, jobs/economy, slowing government spending/deficit, terrorism, and homeland security
The Poll covered perceptions of 17 different institutions and systems as well as views on issues considered most important for 2017.
On Issues in 2017
Americans polled cited the issues they are most concerned about going into 2017. The most frequently cited issues included (in declining order): healthcare, jobs/the economy, terrorism, government spending and the federal deficit, homeland security and anti-terror policy and immigration.
Second tier issues included (in declining order): education, gun violence, crime, gun control/Second Amendment rights, foreign affairs, global climate change, internet/data security/identity theft.
A final tier of issues of concern included: energy policy, declining U.S. status worldwide, and international trade imbalance.
On Perceptions of America’s Systems and Institutions
In a final survey section, respondents were presented with the following statement and question: “The following are a number of systems. While many see some of these systems working well, others see some of these in need of significant repair. Please use a scale of one to ten to indicate your view of the current condition of each of these systems. One means the system is working very well, and ten means the system is completely broken.”
The following table presents the cumulative totals for ratings of one through four (working) and seven through ten (broken).
The best working systems included our U.S. Military, our communities, local governments, our families and religion.
Systems and institutions seen as seriously broken included infrastructure (bridges/roads), our educational systems, the news media, the federal government and our political parties.