How much government is too much

Seventy-four percent of U. Subscribe to the Gallup News brief and real time alerts. Stay up to date with our latest insights. Americans are more likely now than they've been in almost two decades to want the government to take an active role in solving the nation's problems. Fewer than three in 10 Americans are satisfied with the way the U.

Government dissatisfaction, race relations and immigration now lead Americans' top-of-mind concerns for the U. Economic mentions are the lowest since Americans' underlying ideology appears to be a more significant factor in determining their views of taxes than the taxes they actually pay. Notice: JavaScript is not enabled. Please Enable JavaScript Safely.

Learn more. Survey Methods Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Sept. Foreign Trade: Opportunity or Threat to the U. Relatively few Americans have ever said the government has too little power. Americans' perceptions of federal government power. Fifty-four percent of U.

From through , however, more said the government had the right amount of power than said it had too much. Although Americans' opinions about federal government power are essentially unchanged since , partisans' views have changed as the presidency switched from Republican Trump to Democrat Joe Biden. This shift is consistent with the last time the presidency changed from Republican to Democratic control. Spanning the transition from Republican George W. Opinions moved in the other direction after the White House transitioned from Obama to Trump, though the change was not evident until Trump's second year in office in Trend in Americans' opinions of whether there is too much, too little or the right amount of government regulation of business.

Typically Americans are most inclined to say there is too much government regulation. Republicans, and to a lesser extent, independents, have become increasingly likely over the past year to say there is too much regulation of business and less likely to say there is the right amount of it.

The remainder of independents divide evenly between saying there is the right amount or too little regulation. That point increase has mainly been offset by a point decline in the percentage saying there is too little regulation. More Americans typically prefer a limited government role to an active one, think there is too much rather than too little regulation of business and believe the government is too powerful.

The COVID situation and the Trump administration's response to it in may have briefly changed Americans' views on the proper government role, but whatever effect it had has now disappeared. That could reflect changing government policy on the issue as Biden has been more assertive in using government power to take steps to mitigate the spread of the disease than Trump did.

For example, Biden has imposed face mask and vaccine mandates for situations in which his administration believes the federal government has the authority to do so.

I am not one of those who believes that the original intent of the Founding Fathers should control our interpretation of the Constitution, but it is a good place to start. Importantly, your review of the Constitution will not disclose anything that gives power to the government to control or even affect things like education, healthcare or drug policy.

In fact, since the 9th and 10th Amendments specifically state that unless powers are delegated in the Constitution to the federal government, they are expressly reserved for the People and the states.

Nevertheless, ever since the Franklin D. And, along the way, these agents have often themselves become a privileged class. Have you noticed? For example, just after Lee Brown was appointed to became the first drug czar for the Clinton administration, I went to Washington, D. We failed. He showed up for the dinner in a large limousine, and the chauffeur waited outside with the engine running. Was that an appropriate use of our taxpayer money? As another example, recently the Los Angeles Times reported that several senior officers in the military are living in villas and other mansions both in our country and abroad, complete with gardeners and cooks, all at the expense of the taxpayers.

The Times also reported that many workers for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power are taking more than their allotted 10 ten days of sick leave with pay per year. Ten days of sick leave are a lot, and some were taking 20 or more!