Gallup: Americans less worried about economy, more worried about government disfunction

American concern about economic issues matches its lowest point since before the financial crisis, but a Gallup poll released Thursday shows dissatisfaction with government at the highest levels since Watergate.

Asked to identify the top problem facing the country, 57 percent of respondents pointed to economic issues. While that far outpaces any other category, the number is down significantly from the height of the recession, when 86 percent of those surveyed said the economy was their top concern. The last time that the concern over the economy was lower was December 2009.

By contrast, 20 percent of respondents named dissatisfaction with government as the biggest issue facing the country. While that figure pales in comparison to economic concerns, it's the highest that concerns over government have ranked in the survey since June 1974, a few months before President Richard Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal.

"Though economic issues such as the economy in general, unemployment, and the deficit still rank among Americans' top concerns for the country today, economic issues are less commonly mentioned now than at any point in the last three years," said Gallup's Jeffrey M. Jones in a release. "The most notable trend is the growing percentage of Americans saying dissatisfaction with government is the most important problem facing the country today, now at levels not seen in nearly 40 years."

Economic and governmental concerns were the only answers that cracked double digits in the survey, but issues like healthcare (7 percent), immigration (5 percent), and gun control (4 percent) that will be central to President Obama's second term agenda also ranked toward the top of the list.

By contrast, no more than 2 percent of respondents pinpointed crime, the environment, or foreign aid as the most serious problem facing the country.

Gallup also asked respondents what the biggest problem facing the country in 25 years would be. In that survey, the federal budget deficit was pinpointed by 13 percent of respondents, while 12 percent identified the economy in general.

That represents a change from the second term of the Bush Administration. In 2007 and 2008, environmental concerns ranked as the biggest challenge of the future; in 2005 and 2006, respondents primarily fretted over the future of Social Security.

The poll of 1,022 adults was conducted March 7-10; the margin of error for the entire sample is plus-or-minus 4 percentage points.

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