Americans are overwhelmingly angry at the U.S. government and is nearly as let down by the lack of ideas from both political parties, a new poll by Rasmussen Reports revealed Tuesday.Sixty-six percent of voters in a national poll said they're angry at the policies of the federal government, including 36 percent who counted themselves as very angry.
Thirty percent are not really angry, including 10 percent of whom say they aren't angry at all.
Among those most angry are Republicans -- 90 percent of whom say they are somewhat or very angry. Seventy-seven percent of independents are angry and just 44 percent of Democrats are peeved.
Among those suggesting anger abounds falls a majority of Republicans, Democrats and independents -- 59 percent overall -- who say the anger is greater now than it was during the Bush administration.
But few believe that the political parties have an answer. Of those surveyed, 60 percent said neither Republicans nor Democrats understand what is needed and among those who claimed to be very angry, that number rises to 80 percent.
Forty-three percent of people say they are at least partly concerned that the anger could turn violent. That fear breaks down among party lines with 63 percent of Democrats saying they are concerned and 71 percent of Republicans saying they are not concerned. Sixty-one percent of independents are also not concerned.
Additionally, those who are most angry are least concerned about violence. Among the 36 percent who are very angry at the government, only 15 percent say they are very concerned about the possibility of violence. But 51 percent of those who are not angry at all say they fear violence.
The poll of 1,000 adults was taken Sept. 20-21 and has a margin of error of 3 points.
