Natalie Gonnella
A new Rasmussen poll, giving US voters three options to define what the primary role of government should be, reveals that the majority of Americans feel, in an ideal world, the government’s number one priority is to protect individual rights and freedoms.
Nearly six in ten voters agreed that the government’s chief role is defending the liberty of American citizens and when responses were broken down by party ideology, eight in ten conservatives and 48% of moderates felt the government’s main responsibility was to safeguard these rights.
In contrast however, almost half of all Americans felt the government today is not fulfilling this role, with voters viewing the current political environment as an actual threat to freedoms. In combination with current presidential approval ratings and congressional preferences, these results could assist Republicans and conservatives in gaining further ground in the lead up to 2012.
With regard to the other survey options, a quarter of respondents felt that the government should prioritize ensuring fairness and social justice (which, not surprisingly, was favored by nearly half of liberal voters) and 10% felt that its main focus should be to manage the economy.
