Business Less of a Threat to U.S. Than Big Government

People who were asked which is more of a threat to the U.S. — big business or big government — picked big government by a more than two-to-one margin. Consider it a sign that Americans believe wrangling over deficits and taxes does more harm to the country than corporations that pay low taxes and fail to hire new employees.

A new poll from Gallup shows that:

Two in three Americans (64%) say big government will be the biggest threat to the country, one percentage point lower than the record high, and more than twice the number who say the same about big business (26%).

The results may have been different near the start of the recession, when government stimulus appeared as a viable solution to the downturn. The initial U.S. stimulus package was $787 billion. But, the money spent, unemployment continued to rise. Joblessness may have declined from close to 10% to less than 9%, but the number of longtime unemployed lingers at more than 6 million. Now, people out of jobs face a chance that Congress could eliminate unemployment benefits at the end of the year. Over 1.7 million people would then have no safety net at all.

Big business has had its share of negative press. Firms like Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) took advantage of mortgage collapses, or at least the government charged that was so. Big banks including Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) relied on a $700 billion TARP fund to keep them from insolvency. Together with the $787 billion stimulus package, the sum of government assistance reached more than $1.5 billion. Curious about what they received from those actions, citizens put the government’s wrongs, perhaps because it gave the assistance money, ahead of businesses that took it.

The gridlock in Washington probably has not helped the perception of big government that could prevent an accord this month that would keep the federal government operating into next year.

Methodology: Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Nov. 28 to Dec. 1, 2011, with a random sample of 1,012 adults, aged 18 and older, living in the continental U.S., selected using random-digit-dial sampling.

Douglas A. McIntyre