Poll: Record number of Americans consider big government a threat

Is America waking up?

A new Gallup poll reveals that almost three-quarters (72 percent) of Americans view big government as a greater threat to the future of the United States than big business or big labor, a record high for a question that Gallup has been polling for over 50 years.

The first time Gallup asked the question in 1965, only 35 percent said big government was the greatest threat.

Concerns about big government have spiked since President Obama took office in 2009. 55 percent identified big government as the greatest threat in March 2009. That number rose to 64 percent in November 2011, and is up to 72 percent today.

Gallup suggests that a series of period-specific policies — such as ObamaCare and NSA spying tactics — have led to increasing concerns about the federal government’s expanding powers.

A similar spike in concerns about big business occurred during the height of the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. But even then, only 30 percent of respondents viewed big business as the greatest threat to the country’s future. Today, 21 percent view big business as the greatest threat, the lowest Gallup has measured in 30 years.

Unsurprisingly, Republicans and Independents are far more likely to be concerned about expanding federal government power than Democrats.

A whopping 92 percent of Republicans currently view it as the greatest threat, while on 56 percent of Democrats express that level of concern. Democrats were actually more worried about big government during George W. Bush’s presidency. 62 percent of Democrats, a record high, ranked big government as the greatest threat in 2005.

“Americans have consistently viewed big government as a greater threat to the United States than either big business or big labor, but never more than they do now,” said Gallup’s Jeffrey M. Jones. “That may be partly a reaction to an administration that favors the use of government to solve problems. Also, the revelation of widespread government monitoring of U.S. Internet activity may be a factor in raising Americans’ concern about the government. The threat of big business may seem diminished now, during a relatively calm period for big business, with rising stock values and relatively few major corporate scandals such as occurred in the early 2000s. Also, the labor movement is far less influential in U.S. policy today than in the past, including in 1965, when Gallup first asked the question.”