More than one-out-of-four likely U.S. Voters (27%) now believe American society is generally unfair and discriminatory, the highest negative finding in over a year.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 60% of voters believe U.S. society is generally fair and decent, but that’s down 10 points from October and is also the lowest level found since October 2009. Another 13% are undecided.
Last month, 70% of voters viewed American society as fair and decent, while 22% took the opposite view. But since then confidence in the fairness of society has fallen among Democrats and voters not affiliated with either party, while it’s up slightly among Republicans. Prior to the latest survey, the number of voters who shared the view that society is fair and decent has ranged from 64% to 74% since January. The number of those who see society as being unfair and discriminatory has ranged from 17% to 24% over the same period.
The survey of 1,000 likely U.S. Voters was conducted on November 19-20, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. When Barack Obama won the presidential election in November 2008, 65% said U.S. society was fair and decent. That number rose to 69% a month after he was inaugurated into the White House.
A plurality of voters nationwide believes America’s best days have come and gone, but that number has remained fairly consistent since the beginning of the year.
