Trump Voters Don’t Like the Feds, Clinton Voters Do

The upcoming president election is shaping up as a referendum on the federal government and its actions. Supporters of Donald Trump really dislike the feds, while voters who support Hillary Clinton think they’re great.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 96% of Likely U.S. Voters who support Trump are angry at the current policies of the federal government, including 65% who are Very Angry. But only 36% of voters who favor Clinton share that anger, with just five percent (5%) who are Very Angry. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Among all likely voters, 67% are angry at the policies of the federal government, including 34% who are Very Angry, consistent with surveying since 2009.

While 58% of Trump supporters think the federal government rarely or never does the right thing, just nine percent (9%) of Clinton voters agree.

Sixty-six percent (66%) of voters who support the Democratic nominee believe the federal government today is a protector of individual liberty. Among supporters of the Republican nominee, 89% think the federal government is a threat to individual liberty instead.

Thirty-six percent (36%) of all voters believe the government rarely or never does the right thing, the highest level of criticism in three years. Only 32% consider the federal government today a protector of individual liberty.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 23-24, 2016 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

[Rasmussen Reports analysts Amy Holmes and Fran Coombs are available for interested media. Please call 732-776-9777 ext. 205 for interviews.]

Most Republicans (72%) and voters not affiliated with either major political party (56%) agree with former President Ronald Reagan that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Most Democrats (53%) disagree.

Eighty-two percent (82%) of both Clinton and Trump voters are angry at Congress. This includes 54% of Clinton supporters who are Very Angry, compared to 45% of Trump voters.

Seventy percent (70%) of Clinton voters are angry at large corporations, with 34% who are Very Angry. Just 36% of Trump supporters agree with that anger, and that includes only 14% who are Very Angry.

Eighty-one percent (81%) of all voters are angry at Congress, while 54% feel that way about large corporations.

Most voters continue to think government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.

Sixty-two percent (62%) think there is too much government power and too little individual freedom in America today.

The founding document of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, states that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” But just 21% of voters believe the federal government today has the consent of the governed.

Clinton has a four-point lead over Trump in Rasmussen Reports’ latest weekly White House Watch survey.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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