The president and members of Congress swear an oath to support, preserve and defend the Constitution of the United States. According to the inaugural findings from the George Washington University Battleground Poll’s National Political Confidence Index (NPCI), they are largely up to the task.
The NPCI asked respondents to rate how much confidence they have in the national government to achieve the goals outlined in the preamble of the Constitution.
Though Americans remain confident in the federal government’s ability to uphold most of the ideals outlined in America’s founding document, they would still like to see the national government’s power decrease. A majority of respondents (62 percent) say Congress should have less power and only 24 percent would like to see its strength increase. Most would like to see less power held by the White House (52 percent) and the federal courts (50 percent).
Large amounts of Americans would like to see power shift to non-federal levels. An overwhelming majority (88 percent) of likely voters would like to see “the people” with more power. Nearly three-fifths of respondents (58 percent) would like to see increased authority given to state governments.
“Whether we are speaking about Democrat, Republican or independent voters, we should hope that Americans have confidence in our government's capacity to provide these fundamental values, even though they might disagree about the specific policies—or lack thereof—coming out of Washington,” said Christopher Arterton, poll director and GW professor of political management in the Graduate School of Political Management.
The NPCI was conducted as part of the latest GW Battleground Poll in partnership with the Tarrance Group and Lake Research Partners (the new index poll data corresponds with the annual celebration of Constitution Day). The poll, which surveyed 1,000 likely voters nationwide Aug. 23 to 28, has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent. Respondents rated confidence in the national government from zero (no confidence) to 100 (total confidence). Voters who gave a rating of 50 or higher were considered to be “confident” and lower scores were rated “not confident.”
“The question addressed by this index is whether hyper-partisan arguing and the resulting gridlock is weakening Americans’ confidence in our system of government,” Dr. Arterton said. “At present, these likely voters are slightly above neutral, evidencing a reserve of confidence. That's good, but we will need further measurements to establish the trend lines, particularly after the 2014 and 2016 elections.”
When asked about individual provisions in the preamble of the Constitution, voters have the most faith in federal officials to uphold the security and law enforcement responsibilities. The public has faith in the federal government to provide for the common defense, with 69 percent expressing confidence and 28 percent not confident. Fifty-nine percent are confident in the government’s ability to establish justice with 40 percent expressing reservations.
Almost all elements of the preamble enjoy strong support, including the duties to promote the general welfare (54 percent confident) and secure the "Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” (57 percent).
The NCPI found only two constitutional goals where opinions reflected the politically divided populace. Only half of those polled had faith in the federal government to ensure domestic tranquility (50 percent) and 44 percent were confident in the national government to form a more perfect union.
The poll, which was conducted in late August, soon after the events in Ferguson, Missouri, showed that racial minorities still hold strong confidence in the national government. Higher percentages of blacks are confident than whites in the national government’s ability to form a more perfect union (66 percent of blacks vs. 39 percent of whites), ensure domestic tranquility (64 percent vs. 48) and promote the general welfare (70 percent vs. 50 percent). Most blacks (63 percent) also held confidence in the government to establish justice.
