America's Best Days 68% Favor Smaller Government, Lower Taxes Tuesday, September

America's Best Days 68% Favor Smaller Government, Lower Taxes   Tuesday, September 07, 2010   Sixty-eight percent (68%) of U.S. voters prefer a smaller government with fewer services and lower taxes to a more active one that offers more services and higher taxes. That's the second highest finding in Rasmussen Reports surveying on the question since November 2006, exceeded only by a 70% finding in August of last year.  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 24% of voters prefer a more active government with more services and higher taxes. Only 19% felt that way in August 2009 as voters stormed congressional town hall meetings across the country to complain about pending health care legislation, the bailouts of the auto and financial industry and the $787-billion economic stimulus plan. Just two months ago, 63% favored a smaller government, while 26% opted for a more active one. In nearly four years of surveying on the question, support for a smaller government has ranged from 55% to 70%, while backing for a more active government has run from 19% to 32%. Eighty-eight percent (88%) of Republicans and 74% of voters not affiliated with either major party prefer a smaller government. Democrats are evenly divided. Sixty-one percent (61%) of the Political Class like a more active government with more services and higher taxes. Eighty-two percent (82%) of Mainstream voters favor a smaller government with fewer services and lower taxes instead. President Obama is expected to announce on Wednesday plans for at least $50 billion in new spending on transportation infrastructure and billions more in tax credits in hopes of jumpstarting the troubled economy. But 55% of voters continue to  oppose a second economic stimulus package.  Heading into the final two months of the mid-term election campaign, most voters believe Democrats in Congress want to raise taxes and spending, while Republicans in Congress want to cut taxes and spending. The latest Generic Congressional Ballot finds that 48% of Likely Voters would vote for their district's Republican congressional candidate, while 36% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent. This matches the largest advantage ever measured for the Republicans three weeks ago. The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on September 2-3, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology. A plurality (46%) of voters now believe the country's best days are already behind us, down slightly from July but consistent with findings since April of last year. Thirty-eight percent (38%) think America's best days are still to come, and another 16% are not sure. Most Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major political party think America's best days are in the past, while over half of Democrats think our best days are in the future. Overall, 69% of voters feel American society is fair and decent. That's up slightly from the previous survey but in line with voter sentiments since President Obama took office in January 2009. One-in-five (20%) still feel society is unfair and discriminatory. But voters feel the president has a much different perspective. Forty percent (40%) say Obama views U.S. society as fair and decent, while 47% say he views it as unfair and discriminatory. Solid majorities of white voters and voters of other ethnicities feel society is fair and decent, while African-American voters are evenly divided on the question. Consistent with previous polling, 74% of voters say that when people move to America from other parts of the world, they should adopt this country's culture, language and heritage. This number has varied little over the last several years, falling between the mid-70s and low-80s.  Sixteen percent (16%) disagree and say people from other countries should maintain their home cultures. Most voters also continue to think that America's allies should do what the United States wants rather than vice versa - by a 59% to 12% margin. Twenty-five percent (25%) think neither is a good option. This also is in contrast to voters' opinions about the president. Forty percent (40%) say Obama thinks our allies should do what the United States wants, and 30% say he thinks the United States should do what the allies want. A majority of Americans identified just seven countries as allies of the United States out of a list of 18 countries regularly in the news. Rasmussen Reports is an electronic media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion polling information.  We poll on a variety of topics in the fields of politics, business and lifestyle, updating our site's content on a news cycle throughout the day, everyday. Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade.   Carl Ray Louk "FRIENDSHIP NEVER ENDS" SG-1996 "LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY" SG-2000 "THE PHOENIX SHALL RISE" SD "EVEN A MAN WHO IS PURE IN HEART AND SAYS HIS PRAYERS BY NIGHT, MAY BECOME A WOLF WHEN THE WOLFBANE BLOOMS AND THE AUTUMN MOON IS BRIGHT." LT-1941 "FLESH OF MY FLESH; BLOOD OF MY BLOOD; KIN OF MY KIN WHEN SAY COME TO YOU, YOU SHALL CROSS LAND OR SEA TO DO MY BIDDING!" 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