A new study from the Pew Research Center examined Americans’ views on government agencies, revealing that citizens are more favorable toward the Department of Defense and NASA than they are toward the IRS or President Obama.
As Breitbart News previously reported, President Obama ended 2014 on a low note, with his worst approval rating in his six years in the White House. Despite a recent uptick in his job rating, the President’s average approval rating during the course of the past year was 42.6 percent, down from 45.8 percent in 2013.
NASA, on the other hand, enjoys a healthy approval rating of 68 percent, while the Department of Defense (DOD) is also approved by a substantial majority of Americans: 65 percent. The NSA scrapes by with a thin majority of 51 percent of the population expressing a favorable opinion.
In fact, of the eight federal government agencies included in the survey, Americans expressed a favorable impression of all but one: the IRS. When it comes to the tax agency, 48 percent expressed an unfavorable opinion, and only 45 percent expressed a favorable one.
When looking at the sexes separately, opinions vary more widely still. A full 56 percent of men have an unfavorable view of the IRS, while only 41 percent of women see the agency unfavorably.
Politically, members of the Tea Party hold the most negative views of the IRS, with only 15 percent expressing a favorable opinion and 82 percent expressing an unfavorable view. Democrats, on the other hand, are generally favorable of the tax agency, with only 32 percent claiming a negative view and 62 percent saying they view the IRS positively.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also split responders along party lines, as 80 percent of Democrats view the EPA favorably, and only 36 percent of Republicans say the same–a difference of 44 percent.
Democrats in general have a more favorable opinion of almost all government agencies than do Republicans, including their opinion of the DOD and NASA. The one exception, where Democrats dislike a government agency more than Republicans do, is the case of the CIA. Only 46 percent of Democrats have a favorable opinion, whereas 64 percent of Republicans express approval of the CIA.
Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter @tdwilliamsrome.
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