Majorities in U.S. View Gov't as Too Intrusive and Powerful

PRINCETON, NJ -- Record- or near-record-high percentages of Americans are critical of the size and scope of government, as measured by four Gallup trend questions updated in September. This sentiment stretches to 59% of Americans now believing the federal government has too much power, up eight percentage points from a year ago.

Nearly as many Americans also give the antigovernment response to a question asking whether government should do more to solve the country's problems or whether it is doing too many things that should be left to businesses and individuals. Today's 58% saying it is doing too much is just slightly below the 59% to 60% levels recorded in the mid- to late '90s.

The latest results are based on Gallup's annual Governance survey, cosponsored this year by USA Today, and conducted Sept. 13-16.

Americans are about evenly split over whether the government is overreaching with its regulation of business and industry versus doing too little or the right amount in this area. However, the 49% now saying there is too much government regulation is the highest seen in the past decade.

Americans continue to disagree rather than agree that the federal government poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. However, the current 51% to 46% split on this question represents the narrowest margin since Gallup first asked it in 2003.

Independents Join Republicans in Rebuking Government

Solid majorities of Republicans are critical of government on all four government role questions reviewed here, while equally large majorities of Democrats defend the government's size and influence.

Consistent with independents' ongoing preference for Republican congressional candidates this year, majorities of independents side with Republicans in saying the government has too much power, is doing too many things, and is going too far with regulation of the private sector. Independents are divided at 49% to 49% over whether the government represents an immediate threat to citizens' liberty.

Bottom Line

An expanded proportion of Americans in 2010 believe the government has overstepped its bounds -- growing too intrusive and too powerful. Also, nearly half now consider the government a threat to individual liberty. However, the boundaries Americans want government to operate within are well described in the 2010 USA Today/Gallup Governance survey, and they turn out to be fairly moderate. On a 5-point scale ranging from extreme activism on the part of government to extreme minimalism, Americans are evenly distributed around the midpoint, with relatively few picking either extreme. Thus emerges a picture of a populace that wants a certain amount of government involvement in promoting the wellbeing of Americans -- certainly not too much, but also not too little.