46th and current president of the United States
The findings illustrate widespread political alienation as a polarized country limps out of the pandemic and into a recovery haunted by inflation and fears of a recession. In interviews, respondents worried less about the machinery of democracy — voting laws and the tabulation of ballots — and more about the outputs.
A self-described moderate Republican, Brown has seen the United States falling short of its democratic promise ever since learning in high school that the Electoral College allows someone to become president while not winning the majority of national votes. But he's especially disappointed with Congress now, seeing its obsessions as not reflective of the people's will.
“I think people are less willing to get involved because it's become more contentious,” Kiessling, 29, said. “In California, I kind of feel that I throw my vote away every time, and this is just what you get,” said Short, 63, a retired businessman. Joseph Derito, an 81-year-old retired baker in Elmyra, New York, sees immigration policy as not representing the views of most Americans. “The government today is all for the people who have nothing — a lot of them are capable of working but get help,” said Derito, a white political independent who leans Republican and voted for Trump. “They just want to give these people everything.”