Americans: Gov't wastes 50% of every dollar spent

[Surlethe]

Gallup

PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans are markedly cynical about the amount of waste in federal spending, more so than at several other times in recent history. On average, Americans believe 50 cents of every tax dollar that goes to the government in Washington, D.C., today are wasted. That's an increase from 46 cents per dollar in 2001.

Perceptions of federal waste were significantly lower 30 years ago than they are today. In October 1979 -- Gallup's earliest reading -- the estimate was 40 cents per dollar. The figure rose sharply by September 1981, perhaps influenced by President Ronald Reagan's sharp attacks on government spending that year as part of his supply-side approach to the federal budget. Americans' estimate for federal waste dipped to 38 cents (the lowest in Gallup records) during Reagan's second term, but rebounded into the mid-40s 15 years later. Now at 50 cents, the 2009 figure is the highest measured to date.

Looking at today's results more specifically, about a third of Americans (35%) believe more than half of every tax dollar is wasted, up from 26% in 2001. Another third mention a number between 26 and 50 cents while 21% say no more than 25 cents are wasted.

Americans are only a bit less critical of state government spending. The average amount they now say their own state wastes is 42 cents, again topping the previous high by a few cents. Slightly more Americans today, compared with eight years ago, believe more than 50 cents of each state tax dollar is wasted (23% today versus 16% in 2001).

Local government fares best among the three levels of government, and has not seen much change in its reading since the last measurement. The average amount per dollar Americans believe their own local government wastes is 37 cents, similar to the 36 cents recorded in the Sept. 7-10, 2001, Gallup survey.

Republicans and independents estimate higher levels of waste at the federal level than do Democrats. Additionally, Republicans are twice as likely today as they were in September 2001 (45% vs. 22%, respectively) to believe that the federal government wastes more than 50 cents per tax dollar. The percentage of independents estimating at least 51 cents of waste has risen by a smaller amount (from 33% to 40%), while the percentage of Democrats with this view has not changed.

With respect to waste at the state level, independents perceive greater waste in their own states than do either Republicans or Democrats. The three groups are about equal in their perceptions of waste at the local level.

Perceptions of waste in state government are the same among residents of the 28 states that currently have Democratic governors as they are in the 22 states with Republican governors (averaging 42 cents per dollar for each). Perhaps surprisingly, even within Republican-led states, Republicans estimate a higher amount of waste than do Democrats.

With President Obama promising to pay for healthcare reform through efficiencies in federal spending, Gallup finds Americans, on average, believing 50 cents of every tax dollar sent to Washington, D.C., are wasted. Perceptions of waste in state and local governments are a bit lower.

Across all time periods since Gallup first asked about government waste, Americans have believed the federal government is the most wasteful and local government the least, with state government falling somewhere in between. However, given the increases in perceived waste since the earliest readings, no level of government today can boast about its figures.

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,026 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Aug. 31-Sept. 2, 2009. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on land-line telephones (for respondents with a land-line telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell-phone only).

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

No time to comment.

[Stark]

Does the survey define 'waste'? To many, travel allowances are 'waste', conventions are 'waste', comfy chairs are 'waste', things like that. When I think 'waste' in a public sense I think giant, cumbersome bueraux that produce less than they consume but can't be cut back.

[Lord of the Abyss]

For an awful lot of Americans, "waste" means "it doesn't benefit ME". So I'd expect huge estimates of government waste since individual people don't benefit from every program at once. It's the same thing you see happen when it comes time to cut all that "government waste" instead of making speeches about it; it turns out that most of what Bob thinks is waste isn't waste to Carol, and what Carol considers waste Bob considers important.

[Surlethe]

The graphs in the link are interesting. Here is a table of raw data:

Of every tax dollar that goes to the federal government in Washington, D.C., how many cents of each dollar would you say are wasted?

Code: Select all

     0 -- 1-10 -- 11-25 -- 26-50 -- 51-75 -- 76-100 -- No opinion
(%)  2 --   7  --   12  --   35  --   19  --   16   --    10

Does the survey define 'waste'?

It doesn't seem to. Its importance is more in measuring perception: "What proportion of your tax money goes toward activities you perceive as worthless?"

[Stark]

Oh yeah, I get that it's supposed to gather a sense of perception, I was just curious if other questions narrowed it down for respondents, like 'is the public service too big' or 'community projects wasteful' or 'corporate welfare wasteful' etc.

[Nephtys]

'Waste' is a damned broad term. A private car is 'waste', compared to riding a bus. But do you really expect Senators or the President to ride busses to get to work? Private Jets are all expensive. But what's the alternative? Waiting for the plane schedule, booking a flight, waiting hours in an airport, then getting off at capitol hill or your home district, or whatever?

Not to mention the myriad of expenses and complications that by necessity must occur during a project. Government Projects, particularly military ones, are not like commercial projects done by companies. You cannot cut corners like a company. That adds an incredible amount to final costs, and explains budget and schedule overruns.

But whatever, a 'survey' to add a percentage to 'waste' is ridiculous. You may as well ask Americans how far away Alpha Centauri is in miles, and wait for people to give numbers like 'a zillion'.

[Winston Blake]

Not to mention the myriad of expenses and complications that by necessity must occur during a project. Government Projects, particularly military ones, are not like commercial projects done by companies. You cannot cut corners like a company. That adds an incredible amount to final costs, and explains budget and schedule overruns.

I agree with your post, however I thought most government military projects were commercial projects done by companies. Even if they were government run, 'not cutting corners' probably wouldn't have as severe consequences for a company as for a government - e.g. they're not going to go out of business. The cost of military projects can probably be safely attributed to volatile specifications and order sizes, congressional pork, and the politicking that goes on in any big multi-organisation project.

[Samuel]

This is a survey on people's perceptions. How does it have any value whatsoever? Didn't someone mention in the debate on health care that waste for private insurance companies was 25% while the government version was 5%?

[General Zod]

This is a survey on people's perceptions. How does it have any value whatsoever? Didn't someone mention in the debate on health care that waste for private insurance companies was 25% while the government version was 5%?

You can't even really use it to gauge how well the government is keeping people informed about spending, because it's just an opinion poll that doesn't include a useful definition of waste. It's really a worthless survey altogether.

[Duckie]

It's useful because it shows how much people distrust their government- for instance, 16% of people think that 75% to 100% of the money they sent is useless. How much do you want to bet at least 10% of the US thinks that 100% of their money sent to the government is wasted?

[Simon_Jester]

This is a survey on people's perceptions. How does it have any value whatsoever? Didn't someone mention in the debate on health care that waste for private insurance companies was 25% while the government version was 5%?

As Duckie implies, information about people's perceptions can be valuable in and of itself, especially in a country that is plagued by brainbugs that a lot of people have got stuck in their heads about what government is and is not, and what it is and is not capable of doing.

[fgalkin]

'Waste' is a damned broad term. A private car is 'waste', compared to riding a bus. But do you really expect Senators or the President to ride busses to get to work? Private Jets are all expensive. But what's the alternative? Waiting for the plane schedule, booking a flight, waiting hours in an airport, then getting off at capitol hill or your home district, or whatever?

Not to mention the myriad of expenses and complications that by necessity must occur during a project. Government Projects, particularly military ones, are not like commercial projects done by companies. You cannot cut corners like a company. That adds an incredible amount to final costs, and explains budget and schedule overruns.

But whatever, a 'survey' to add a percentage to 'waste' is ridiculous. You may as well ask Americans how far away Alpha Centauri is in miles, and wait for people to give numbers like 'a zillion'.

The definition of "waste" is irrelevant, since the question is, essentially, "would you trust the government with your money?" worded differently. It measures people's opinion, not anything objective like spending.

This is a survey on people's perceptions. How does it have any value whatsoever? Didn't someone mention in the debate on health care that waste for private insurance companies was 25% while the government version was 5%?

What is the value of political opinion polls? Opinion polls on issues like the death penalty, the Iraq war, or gay marriage, or Obama's approval rating?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[General Zod]

What is the value of political opinion polls? Opinion polls on issues like the death penalty, the Iraq war, or gay marriage, or Obama's approval rating?

If the questions are poorly phrased, poorly defined or hilariously loaded? They're worth about nothing. Except as maybe propaganda.

[fgalkin]

What is the value of political opinion polls? Opinion polls on issues like the death penalty, the Iraq war, or gay marriage, or Obama's approval rating?

If the questions are poorly phrased, poorly defined or hilariously loaded? They're worth about nothing. Except as maybe propaganda.

How is the question in this case "poorly phrased, poorly defined or hilariously loaded"?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[General Zod]

How is the question in this case "poorly phrased, poorly defined or hilariously loaded"?

Because without people understanding what "waste" means when they're asked this question, the results are going to be incredibly skewed when different people are going to have different definitions of "government waste". So naturally it's going to be heavily biased in favor of people thinking the government wastes money and is useless for anything but propaganda.

[fgalkin]

How is the question in this case "poorly phrased, poorly defined or hilariously loaded"?

Because without people understanding what "waste" means when they're asked this question, the results are going to be incredibly skewed when different people are going to have different definitions of "government waste". So naturally it's going to be heavily biased in favor of people thinking the government wastes money and is useless for anything but propaganda.

The thing measured here is opinion of government, not any specific thing money is being wasted on. Even if the definitions of "waste" are completely contradictory (and they are, for some it's the war, for others it's things like Social Security), the survey still works as an opinion poll of the government. As for the surveys being biased in favor of people thinking the government wastes money, first of all, the question is not "does the government waste money," but "how much of it?" and secondly, wouldn't there be a constantly high number of people believing the government wastes money if that were the case? There are differences in results among the different levels of government and across the years, so the fact that there was an increase in perception of how much money is being wasted shows that attitudes changed over the years, so that's at least one area in which it is useful..

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Alyrium Denryle]

How is the question in this case "poorly phrased, poorly defined or hilariously loaded"?

Because without people understanding what "waste" means when they're asked this question, the results are going to be incredibly skewed when different people are going to have different definitions of "government waste". So naturally it's going to be heavily biased in favor of people thinking the government wastes money and is useless for anything but propaganda.

You are just an idiot. The entire point was that waste not be defined. The question asked is a proxy for a lot of different questions. "Do you trust the government to spend tax dollars wisely?" "Are the things the government does a waste of time?" etc. Effectively it is a poll that measures the extent of anti-taxation and anti-government sentiment. What specific form it takes does not matter, what is why the question itself is ambiguous as to what defines waste.

[Uraniun235]

Between defense industry handouts, needless military aid to certain countries (whoops that's the first one), fruitless wars (first again?), halfassed procurements that lead to stupidly-inflated costs (def. the first again), huge giveaways to fatcat financiers, tax cuts for those who least need them, the 'war on drugs', etc...

"50% of every dollar spent is waste" is a bad way to phrase it, in my opinion, but I would definitely see merit in suggesting that a significant proportion of the money spent is ultimately wasteful.