Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories
The Panama Canal has value to American business—but it has more value to China

The Panama Canal has value to American business—but it has more value to China

A fictional, fanciful sign depicts the results of voter suppression through the unfair, partisan manipulation of district lines (gerrymandering).

The worst congressional gerrymanders of the 2020s

Project 2025: Part II

Project 2025: Part II

Students raising their hands in a classroom

Project 2025: Department of Education

Redistricting

Redistricting

Special Session Watch: Florida Reaches Compromise Over Immigration Law

Special Session Watch: Florida Reaches Compromise Over Immigration Law

Americans are mostly worried about poor leadership and inflation

concerns about government
Sky Noir Photography by Bill Dickinson/Getty Images
David Meyers
By David MeyersMar 29, 2022
David Meyers

David Meyers is the Executive Editor of The Fulcrum. Before launching The Fulcrum, David spent more than two decades at CQ Roll Call, a leading publisher of political news and information. During his time there, David served as managing editor of Roll Call (“the newspaper of Capitol Hill”) and as managing editor of member information and research, which included co-editing the definitive biographical directory of Congress, “Politics in America.” David went on to lead all of CQ Roll Call’s congressional research teams as vice president of research and content development before shifting to a revenue and strategy role as vice president of business operations for Roll Call, working with the advertising and editorial teams to develop new revenue models and expand the company’s events business. David lives in Fairfax, Va., with his wife, two daughters and rottweiler. A graduate of Tufts University, David is a past president of the Tufts University Alumni Association. He is also a past president of the Washington Press Club Foundation, which works to celebrate and advance the role of women and minorities in the media. David currently serves on the board of directors for Temple B’nai Shalom in Fairfax Station.

See More Writings by author

While concerns about inflation have skyrocketed since January, more Americans remain concerned about government than any other challenge facing the nation, according to a new poll.

Twenty-two percent of Americans told Gallup pollsters in March that government and poor leadership is the most important problem in the United States. That’s the sixth consecutive month in which at least one-fifth of Americans chose that response.

More than three times as many white people than people of color said government was the biggest problem, and that answer was 30 percent more common among Republicans than Democrats.

Selection of “unifying the country” has declined slightly, from 7 percent in January to 5 percent in March, well within the margin of error.

Economic issues overall were a more common answer, with 37 percent of respondents selecting among a number of topics. Inflation was the most popular of those answers, selected by 17 percent — up from 8 percent in January.

The Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, reached 7.9 percent in February. That’s the highest rate in 40 years.

The coronavirus and disease in general is no longer a major concern among Americans. In January, when the latest Covid-19 wave peaked, 20 percent said it was the biggest problem facing the country. That dropped to 3 percent in March.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Gallup served 1,017 adults March 1-18. The survey has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Latest news

A Time to Choose Sides
Rule of Law

A Time to Choose Sides

Washington County’s Plan to Revive The American Dream
Governance & Legislation

Washington County’s Plan to Revive The American Dream

Congress Bill Spotlight: Make Greenland Great Again Act
Governance & Legislation

Congress Bill Spotlight: Make Greenland Great Again Act

Is This What Education in a Democracy Looks Like?
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Is This What Education in a Democracy Looks Like?

Read More

When Power Protects Predators: How U.S. Rape Culture Silences Survivors

Individuals protesting.

Gabrielle Chalk

When Power Protects Predators: How U.S. Rape Culture Silences Survivors

On November 5, 2024—the night of the most anticipated election cycle for residents of the United States—thousands gathered around the country, sitting with friends in front of large-screen TVs, optimistic and ready to witness the election of the next president of the United States.

As the hours of election night stretched on and digital state maps turned red or blue with each counted ballot, every 68 seconds a woman was sexually assaulted in the U.S., an estimate calculated by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN).

Keep ReadingShow less
The Bureaucrat’s Dilemma When Dealing with a Charismatic Autocrat

A single pawn separated from a group of pawns.

Canva Images

The Bureaucrat’s Dilemma When Dealing with a Charismatic Autocrat

Excerpt from To Stop a Tyrant by Ira Chaleff

In my book To Stop a Tyrant, I identify five types of a political leader’s followers. Given the importance of access in politics, I range these from the more distant to the closest. In the middle are bureaucrats. No political leader can accomplish anything without a cadre of bureaucrats to implement their vision and policies. Custom, culture and law establish boundaries for a bureaucrat’s freedom of action. At times, these constraints must be balanced with moral considerations. The following excerpt discusses ways in which bureaucrats need to thread this needle.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trump’s Project 2025 agenda caps decades-long resistance to 20th century progressive reform

There has long been a tug-of-war over White House plans to make government more liberal or more conservative.

Getty Images, zimmytws

Trump’s Project 2025 agenda caps decades-long resistance to 20th century progressive reform

Project 2025 is a conservative guideline for reforming government and policymaking during the second Trump administration. The Fulcrum's cross-partisan analysis of Project 2025 relies on unbiased, critical thinking, reexamines outdated assumptions, and uses reason, scientific evidence, and data in analyzing and critiquing Project 2025. To that end, we also amplify the work of others in doing the same.

For much of the 20th century, efforts to remake government were driven by a progressive desire to make the government work for regular Americans, including the New Deal and the Great Society reforms.

Keep ReadingShow less
Religious elite can follow their source of moral guidance

An open book at a community gathering.

Canva

Religious elite can follow their source of moral guidance

In some societies, there is no distinction between religious elites and political elites. In others, there is a strong wall between them. Either way, they tend to have direct access to huge swaths of the populace and influence with them. This is an irresistible target for the proto-tyrant to court or nullify.

In many cases, the shrewd proto-tyrant will pose as befriending the major religious sect or, at least, dissemble that they mean it no harm. It is extremely enticing for the leaders of these sects to give the proto-tyrant public support or, at least, studiously refrain from criticizing their regime. There is apparently much to be gained or, at least, much less to lose in terms of their temporal power and ability to continue serving their faithful.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2025