Washington Post-Pew Research Center Poll
This poll was conducted for The Washington Post and the Pew Research Center by telephone April 7 - 10, 2011, among a random national sample of 1,004 adults, including users of both conventional and cellular phones. The results from the full survey have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI) of Princeton, NJ.
*= less than 0.5 percent
1. As I read a list of some stories covered by news organizations this past week, please tell me if you happened to follow each news story very closely, fairly closely, not too closely, or not at all closely.
d. The threat of a government shutdown because of budget disagreements in Washington
----- Closely ----- ------- Not closely -------
NET Very Fairly NET Not too Not at all No opinion
4/10/11* 72 47 26 28 15 12 *
Democrats 76 51 26 23 12 11 *
Republicans 76 49 27 24 15 9 -
Independents 70 45 25 30 14 16 -
Liberal Dems 78 53 25 22 12 10 -
Conservative Reps 79 51 28 21 15 7 -
Agree w/tea party 84 55 29 15 8 7 -
* Asked among a list of items; see Pew Research Center for full list.
2. If you had to use one single word to describe your impression of the budget negotiations in Washington, what would that one word be?* (This question asked April 9 and 10 only.)
Agree with
All Dem Rep Ind Lib Dem Con Rep tea party
Positive 3 5 2 2 5 3 3
Neutral 16 14 15 17 13 13 15
Negative 69 69 65 74 75 64 76
No opinion/other 12 11 18 7 8 20 7
Unweighted word counts (all words mentioned by four or more respondents):
All
Ridiculous 29
Disgust/Disgusting/disgusted 22
Mess/Messy 14
Frustrating/Frustrated 14
Disappointing/disappointment/disappointed 13
Stupid/stupidity 13
Bull/bull****/bullcrap 11
Poor/poorly 7
Terrible 7
Childish 6
Fair 5
Horrible 5
Idiot/idiotic 5
Stink/Stinks 5
Chaos/chaotic 4
Confusing 4
Pathetic 4
Politics/political 4
Slow 4
Suck/sucks 4
3. How much, if at all, do you blame each of the following for the dispute over the budget that nearly led to a government shutdown? (First/Next) do you think [INSERT, RANDOMIZE] deserve(s) a lot, some, or none of the blame for the budget dispute?* *First two nights: “would you blame each of the following for a government shutdown?”
4/10/11 - Summary table
-------Blame------
NET A lot Some None No opinion
a. President Obama 72 32 40 22 6
Democrats 55 12 42 39 6
Republicans 89 56 33 5 6
Independents 78 34 44 19 4
Liberal Democrats 52 6 46 47 1
Conservative Republicans 91 62 29 3 6
Agree with tea party 97 69 28 3 0
b. Democratic leaders in Congress 82 33 49 11 7
Democrats 73 11 62 20 6
Republicans 88 54 34 4 8
Independents 87 37 50 7 5
Liberal Democrats 73 6 68 23 4
Conservative Republicans 89 61 29 3 8
Agree with tea party 98 73 24 1 1
c. Republican leaders in Congress 80 37 44 12 8
Democrats 90 56 34 5 6
Republicans 72 17 55 21 7
Independents 82 35 48 10 7
Liberal Democrats 94 73 21 3 3
Conservative Republicans 69 12 57 23 8
Agree with tea party 72 18 54 27 1
d. Representatives affiliated with
the tea party movement 64 27 37 23 13
Democrats 74 42 32 13 13
Republicans 46 8 39 41 13
Independents 71 29 42 20 9
Liberal Democrats 78 52 26 18 5
Conservative Republicans 43 6 37 43 14
Agree with tea party 40 4 36 55 5
***END***
