Poll: Confused Americans want government to shrink, but also stay the same size

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll captures the truly impressive confusion that marks American politics as we head toward the 2016 election. Just 42 percent disagreed with the statement "The federal government should have very little authority over domestic affairs," but when asked about which specific programs should be cut, respondents were much more hesitant.

For instance, only 28 percent agreed that "Most federal regulatory agencies, like the Food and Drug Administration, should be abolished or significantly reduced in size, while fewer than 15 percent were willing to say that "Government programs assisting the elderly like Social Security or Medicare should be abolished."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.