Shutdown Puts Washington Dysfunction at Top of Public’s Agenda

Since the 2008 financial meltdown, the economy and jobs have been the “most important problems facing America today.” But, in the first week of October, Washington’s poor performance has made dysfunctional government the most important problem facing the country.

The last time a failure of government leadership dramatically appeared on the public’s radar was during the last shutdown in 1996. But, then only 17 percent of the public cited it and the deficit and budget rated higher.

Beyond the high percentage of voters who identified leadership as the problem was the rapid movement from less than 20 percent to a third of the public in less than a month. Movement shows interest and intensity. And, it signals a problem for incumbent, especially D.C., politicians.

See Gallup: Dysfunctional gov’t surpasses economy as top U.S. problem