Poll: Most think government won’t tackle important problems this year

Seventy-four percent of people express little-to-no confidence that the federal government will deal with important problems facing the country by the end of the year. 

An Associated Press-GFK poll released Wednesday found 22 percent are “moderately confident” the government will address the problems, while only 3 percent are extremely confident. 

{mosads}The poll was taken shortly before Congress left on its five-week August recess, and only a handful of legislative days remain before the November midterm elections. 

Only 28 percent of people believe the country is going in the right direction. Another 72 percent say it is going in the wrong direction. 

The amount of people who say the country is going in the right direction has dropped 9 percent since May. That number has not fallen so low since the government shutdown last year. Before that, it had not been as low since 2011. 

People are split on which party they would rather see control Congress, with 33 percent picking Democrats or Republicans, respectively. 

Another 33 percent said it does not matter who controls Congress. 

Sixty-two percent of people said they would like to see someone besides the incumbent win the district where they live. Another 36 percent said they would like to see the current member retain office. 

Only three incumbents have lost reelection this year during the primary season. The latest came Tuesday night, when Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.) lost to Dave Trott. Bentivolio was first elected in 2012 after former Rep. Thad McCotter (R) failed to gather enough valid petition signatures to make it on the ballot. 

Thirteen percent approve of Congress, largely unchanged this year, and 40 percent approve of President Obama. 

The online poll surveyed 1,044 people from July 24-28 and has a margin of error of 3.4 percent.