Confidence in US political system lowest in decades

Over one third of U.S. citizens are "not proud" of the way democracy works in the country, a record high in the past few decades, according to a recent poll.


U.S. citizens were unsatisfied overall regarding the country's politics, identifying money in politics as the "root of all evils," showed the Washington Post-University of Maryland poll which was released Saturday.

When asked "how proud are you of the way democracy works in America," 36 percent of those polled said they were not proud, those who identify themselves as Democrats are more disappointed than those as Republicans or independents.

The data were in a stark contrast with those gathered since 1996, when the percentage of those who claimed they were not proud never topped 20 percent in the four similar polls during that time.

When asked to draw a comparison between the societal divisiveness now and during the Vietnam war, 70 percent said the division now is "at least as big as during the Vietnam war," while 27 percent said the division during the war was greater.

Over 70 percent of those polled also believed that the country's politics have "reached a dangerously low point," among them roughly half believe that this period is temporary while the other half say the low point is here to stay.

Money was pointed as the top two reasons behind the troubled signs in U.S. politics, according to the research, as 96 percent believe "money in politics" should be blamed for political dysfunction, the same for 94 percent with "wealthy political donors."
 [china.org.cn/Xinhua]
 30/10/17