Angry

Poll: GOP three times as angry at government

By Nick Gass

Republicans are nearly three times as angry at the government as their Democratic counterparts, according to the results of the latest Pew Research Center study out Monday. And among those who are angry, the most popular candidates are Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Donald Trump and Ben Carson. The least popular candidate among those angry: former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

The divide between Republicans and Democrats is even deeper among those who said they were politically engaged, with 42 percent of Republicans expressing anger toward their government, while just 11 percent of Democrats said the same.

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 32 percent indicated an anger toward government, down from 38 percent during the 2013 government shutdown but 20 percentage points higher than among Democrats, of whom just 12 percent said they were angry.

Among the angry group, 66 percent saw Rubio favorably, while just 25 percent did not, the highest net positive in that cohort, while 64 percent of those expressing anger saw Trump favorably and 32 percent did not. Carson drew 71 percent favorability of the angry group, but also 63 percent of those who said they were not angry also backed Carson.

With respect to Bush, 57 percent of angry Republicans said they had an unfavorable view of the former governor, while just 36 percent said they did not. Among Republicans who were not angry, Bush finished second only to Carson, with 49 percent favorability, though still 14 points behind the retired neurosurgeon with that group.

Republicans and Democrats did seem to agree more or less on at least one thing, however: Large majorities of Democrats (72 percent) and Republican (89 percent) said they trust their government only sometimes or never.

Results from this portion of the survey were collected from interviews conducted from Aug. 27 to Oct. 4, surveying 2,597 Republicans and leaners with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, and 2,664 Democrats and leaners with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.