Americans may not agree on much lately, but one opinion is nearly universal: There is almost no chance that US President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and the Republican-controlled US Congress can unite to solve the country’s problems.
A new Associated Press-GfK poll found that just 13 percent of Americans are confident that the country’s leaders can work together, while 86 percent have no such faith. That is far more than the 58 percent who felt that way just after the 2010 midterm elections.
The doubts cross party lines: Fewer than one in five Democrats or independents have confidence the two sides can cooperate. Republicans are more pessimistic, with just one in 10 feeling confident.
Photo: AFP
Those who lack confidence spread the blame around: 41 percent say neither side will do enough to work together, 35 percent place more blame on the Republicans and 22 percent on the president.
Neither side holds much hope that things are going to get better, either. Just 16 percent think the president is likely to restore public trust in government in the next two years, while 20 percent feel congressional Republicans will.
Retiree Robert Cole, 65, said that “if you want to place the blame, it rests on the American voter.”
So what does the public think their leaders will be able to do?
A majority say Obama is likely to prevent Congress from repealing the healthcare law passed in 2010, while nearly half say the Grand Old Party (or GOP, another name for the Republicans) is likely to block Obama’s executive order on immigration. Another 42 percent think the GOP will block or roll back Obama’s environmental regulations and fewer think either side will be able to enact their policies.
Political gridlock itself ranks pretty low on the issue scale, with 47 percent calling it extremely or very important, compared with 83 percent who say the economy is important, 76 percent who consider healthcare key and 64 percent who say unemployment is important.
However, the issue prompts Obama’s most negative ratings overall: 66 percent disapprove of his handling of gridlock and among Democrats, 47 percent disapprove.
Approval ratings for the president and Congress are about the same as before the election, with 41 percent approval for Obama and 15 percent for Congress. However, there is greater frustration with politics now than four years ago.
About a quarter — 27 percent — say they are angry, compared with 16 percent in 2010.
The poll of 1,010 adults was conducted online between Thursday last week and Monday.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not