A whopping 63% of Americans have little or no confidence in the future of the US political system, according to a latest Pew Research Center poll…reports Asian Lite News
Washington has witnessed an intensification of fierce confrontations between the Democratic and Republican parties, exposing a perceived dysfunction and disorder of the American democratic system.
Former President Donald Trump faces criminal charges for mishandling classified documents, making him the first ex-president under criminal prosecution in US history.
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Current President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, is dealing with accusations related to taxes and firearms, the first criminal charges against a sitting president’s child.
Earlier in December, House Republicans voted to formalize an impeachment inquiry into Biden, highlighting the stark partisan lines that dominate the country’s political life.
Rewind to January, House Republicans spent four days and 15 tries just to pick their speaker, Rep. Kevin McCarthy. He got the boot nine months later, leaving the whole place leaderless and paralyzed for three weeks while they duked it out over who should fill the spot.
“The U.S. now is confronting a very unique political situation. Not only is there a huge divide between Republicans and Democrats, but there’s also a huge divide within each of the political parties between, for example, moderate Republicans and conservative Republicans,” Denis Simon, a distinguished fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies said.
“So the tension is within parties, and the tension is between parties, shaping the American political situation in very negative ways. And it is having a major impact on the way people view the political system, particularly in terms of the role of government,” said Simon, also former executive vice chancellor of Duke Kunshan University.
Renowned American economist Jeffrey Sachs says that the dysfunction of US political institutions has worsened due to corruption in campaign funds from the wealthy, major corporations and specific interest groups. This has made policies by Congress and the White House deviate from public interests, eroding public confidence in the government to historic lows.
A whopping 63 percent of Americans have little or no confidence in the future of the US political system, according to a latest Pew Research Center poll. Congress, the Supreme Court, and the political parties aren’t exactly winning any popularity contests either.
Economic woes
The economy seems to have temporarily avoided the recession risks predicted by many economists, but whether a “soft landing” can be achieved remains uncertain.
In 2023, the Federal Reserve, through a series of interest rate hikes and balance sheet reduction measures, has kept pushing inflation levels lower, but the index remains high above its long-term target of 2 percent.
The aggressive interest rate hikes, however, briefly caused financial turmoil in the United States, greatly affecting the world and leading to the closure of several banks in the United States and Europe.
“The US economy has held up rather well this year with inflation coming down, the economic recovery continuing and unemployment remaining at close to record low levels,” Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former official at the International Monetary Fund said.
“However, knowing that monetary policy operates with long and variable lags and that the commercial real estate bubble has burst, the jury is still out as to whether the Fed will have succeeded in securing a soft economic landing,” said Lachman.
“The continued political dysfunction in Washington that has put the public finances on an unsustainable path as underlined by an 8 percent of GDP budget deficit at a time of full employment and by a public debt that is well on its way to exceed the level recorded during the Second World War,” he said.
“The regional banking crisis centered on Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank early this year that could be the forerunner of more financial system problems next year as a delayed response to the Fed’s hawkish monetary policy stance,” said Lachman.
Mideast policy backfires
This year, as the Ukraine crisis lingers, a new round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict erupted in a large scale. For the United States, which has long pursued the domination over the Middle East, this is akin to a “gray rhino” event.
The Biden administration’s original diplomatic agenda was disrupted, and its responses to the two conflicts are clearly seen as “double standards,” drawing widespread criticism both internationally and domestically. As a result, the administration has been facing pressure over its policies addressing both domestic and foreign issues.
The White House’s relentless provision of military aid to Ukraine came under fierce attack from Republicans, and a “Ukraine fatigue” in Congress became apparent. A Gallup poll released in November showed that 41 percent of Americans believed the US was doing too much to help Ukraine, a 12-percentage-point increase from 29 percent in June.
Since the outbreak of the new conflict in the Gaza Strip, more than 20,000 people have died there.
The United States, which has long touted itself as a “human rights defender,” not only toughened its military presence in the Middle East and provided substantial military support to Israel, but also repeatedly obstructed relevant resolutions in the United Nations Security Council, drawing widespread criticism from across the world.
Recent polls in the United States show a majority of young voters disapprove of the Biden administration’s handling of the Palestine-Israel conflict, posing a potential challenge to the president’s reelection prospects.
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