AMERICANS AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

Less than a year out from the 2016 presidential election, a new national survey by Pew Research Center provides a perfect snapshot of the two major political parties and what they believe government should and should not do.

In 12 of the 13 issues included in the survey, at least 72 percent of respondents who are Democrats or lean Democrat say the government should play a major role. In only four of the issues do 72 percent of respondents who are Republicans or lean Republican say the government should play a major role.

The four issues where significant numbers in both parties see a major role for government are keeping the country safe from terrorism, responding to natural disasters, ensuring safe food and medicine, and managing the immigration system.

Of course, the parties are likely to differ widely on just how to handle those issues.

A much smaller majority of Republicans also believe the government should play a major role in six other areas: maintaining infrastructure (71 percent), strengthening the economy (64 percent), ensuring basic income for people ages 65-over (59 percent), protecting the environment (58 percent), ensuring access to quality education (55 percent) and setting workplace standards (54 percent).

The two issues where the biggest statistical difference exists in which the parties see a major role for government are ensuring access to health care (Democrats, 83 percent, Republicans, 34 percent, but, for those who are politically engaged, Democrats, 90 percent, and Republicans, 21 percent) and helping people get out of poverty (Democrats, 72 percent; Republicans, 36 percent).

The parties are polarized on the issue of health care because of their positions on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. They are polarized on the issue of poverty because of their position on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of Democratic programs over the last 50 years to end it.

An explanation for the polarization may be found in the survey’s perceptions of government, where 89 percent of Republicans trust the government only sometimes or never, 75 percent believe the government needs major reform, 75 percent say the government is almost always wasteful and inefficient, 71 percent say government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals, and 50 percent believe the federal government does a poor job of running programs.

Meanwhile, only 44 percent of Democrats believe the government needs major reform, 40 percent say government is almost always wasteful and inefficient, 29 percent say the government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals, and 18 percent say the federal government does a poor job of running programs.

Overall, the survey finds only 19 percent of respondents say they can trust the government all or most of the time, and only 20 percent describe government programs as well run. Indeed, fewer than three in 10 Americans have expressed trust in the federal government in every major national poll since July 2007, the longest period of low trust in more than 50 years. That’s quite a plunge from 73 percent when the American National Election Study first asked the question in 1958.

Yet, for 12 of the 13 issues listed in the new Pew survey, a majority of respondents overall thought the government should play a major role.

The mission, then, for 2016 Democratic presidential candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, both of whom have proposed programs with massive spending increases, is to convince the electorate that, despite its lack of trust in how government runs the programs, it is important to continue to allow Democrats to run the programs in which they nevertheless want the government to play a major role.

The mission for Republican presidential candidates, on the other hand, is to convince the electorate that the programs in which it wants the government to play a major role would be run better and more efficiently — and maybe better left to businesses and individuals — under their leadership.

Interestingly, overall distrust in the government has risen since government has been asked to play a major role in more and more issues. That should be a wake-up call for voters, who, according to survey respondents, say by a 53 percent to 38 percent margin they favor a smaller government over a bigger government.

In a year, we hope Americans’ votes will match their survey responses about the size of government.