According to my research, 72% of Americans agree with Howard Beale -- they really are "mad as hell." Second, 57% now believe that their children will inherit a worse America than they did, and just 33% believe their children will have a better quality of life than they have.
This wasn't just any single poll. My research includes interviews with 6,400 people from December 2008 through April 2009 that allow me to analyze opinions by gender, age, ethnicity, partisanship and more. It is buttressed by two dozen "instant response" groups of 30 voters in almost a dozen states over the last 100 days. No matter how I slice and dice the results, we're a very unhappy people.
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image from Zorger
If you talk in depth to self-described angry Americans -- as I have -- you don't hear raving demands or reckless hate. What you hear is fear.
But you also hear a belief in American values that many thought were lost. An incredible 88% believe in the adage "live free or die." Conversely, just 35% agree with the statement, "I want it all, and I want it now," and a slight majority (54%) believe "if it feels good, do it." It's nice to know that freedom beats obtaining more stuff. And when asked to choose from a list of social and cultural challenges facing America, the highest priority is "restoring personal responsibility." (Even in these toughest of economic times, all most Americans are asking for is a hand up, not a handout.
Frank Luntz reports on What Americans really want
The core American complaint about politics is that wrongdoing isn't punished, other than at the next election.
For business and political elites, the message should be clear: Restore trust.
Dealing with those that caused the financial crisis would go a long way, I think.
But that's way too easy. It was the collective culture of trying to get something for nothing that made thousands of people believe they could afford a $300,000+ house on a $30,000 income, regardless of what the bankers told them.
As in one of your earlier posts, the culture is to blame. Everyone needs to accept responsibility for that. It's not "other people". Although some did abuse the trust far more than others, others were constantly gauging the size of things to figure out how much they could abuse trust without attracting attention.
It's time to let someone else have a shot at running the world, I guess.
Posted by: mattbg at September 29, 2009 9:52 AM