Public Most Satisfied With Government's Handling of Parks, Open Space

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Of all the major functions the federal government performs, the American public is most satisfied with the work the government is doing in the area of national parks and open space. The public is least satisfied with the government's handling of the nation's finances, poverty, and healthcare. There are only 5 of 17 areas for which more Americans are satisfied than dissatisfied. Republicans are more likely to express satisfaction than Democrats in all areas.

Gallup's annual Governance poll, conducted Sept. 12-15, asked the public to rate its satisfaction with the various functions the federal government performs -- loosely based on the various cabinet agencies. Seventy-one percent of Americans say they are satisfied with the government's work in the area of national parks and open space, placing it far ahead of the second ranked area on the list -- the nation's military and national defense.

In all, there are only five areas in which at least half the public is satisfied -- national parks, the nation's military and defense, agriculture and farming, transportation, and homeland security.

Americans are least satisfied with the government's handling of the nation's finances, poverty, healthcare, and energy policy, all with only about one in four Americans satisfied. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, one in three are satisfied with the government's handling of natural disasters.

Next, we are going to name some major areas the federal government handles. For each one, please say whether you are satisfied or dissatisfied with the work the government is doing

Gallup asked this question in 2001, immediately before the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Many agencies have seen their ratings change since then -- with roughly half showing improved ratings and half showing worse ratings.

The biggest positive changes -- all showing 7 percentage point increases in satisfaction compared with 2001 -- are national parks, agriculture, and criminal justice. Americans rate education, labor, and the environment more positively than in 2001, but not significantly so.

Some of the greatest changes during the past four years have come on the negative side of the ledger -- the biggest drop has come in the government's handling of foreign affairs, down 16 points from 2001. Military and defense, which was among the three highest rated government areas in 2001, has seen its satisfaction rating fall. The war in Iraq is a likely explanation for both declines.

High gas prices are a likely reason that satisfaction with the government's handling of energy policy is down 11 points, even though the 2001 ratings were already quite negative. There has been a similar drop in terms of the government's handling of the nation's finances, likely due to the exploding deficits brought about by increased efforts to prevent terrorism, the Iraq war, the series of income tax cuts passed in 2001-2002, and now efforts to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. Ratings of transportation have also fallen significantly, from 65% in 2001 to 56% today.

Party differences are evident in all areas, with Republicans significantly more satisfied than Democrats for all functions. That is not surprising since a Republican administration is running the government. The largest gaps between Republicans and Democrats are in the areas of national defense and foreign affairs, both showing differences of greater than 50 percentage points in rated satisfaction. The smallest partisan gap -- still 9 percentage points -- is in the area of criminal justice.

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 921 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Sept. 9-12, 2005. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

29. Next, we are going to name some major areas the federal government handles. For each one, please say whether you are satisfied or dissatisfied with the work the government is doing. How about -- [ITEMS A-O ROTATED, THEN ITEMS P-Q ROTATED]?

A. Agriculture and farming

B. Criminal justice

C. Education

D. Energy policy

E. Environmental issues

F. The nation's finances

G. Foreign affairs

H. Healthcare

I. Public housing and urban development

J. Job creation and economic growth

K. Labor and employment issues

L. The nation's military and national defense

M. National parks and open space

N. Poverty

O. Transportation

P. Homeland security

Q. Responding to natural disasters