The FINANCIAL -- Voters would rather be called a good citizen than a patriot, although they see little difference between the two labels, says Rasmussen reports.
To be a good citizen, most agree it’s more important to do church and community work than to get involved in politics.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 36% of Likely U.S. Voters think being a patriot is the same as being a good citizen, but 41% disagree. Twenty-two percent (22%) are not sure.
Last year at this time, voters were evenly divided when asked if the two were the same thing.
However, 57% would rather be called a good citizen, up five points from the previous survey. Just 27% would prefer being known as a patriot. Fifteen percent (15%) are undecided.
According to the report, in terms of being a good citizen, two-thirds (66%) of all voters say it’s more important to do volunteer work for church and community organizations than it is to get involved in politics and political campaigns. Only 18% feel that it’s more important to get involved in politics. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.
These findings are unchanged from surveys since June 2009.
The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on May 29-30, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.
Thirty-six percent (36%) of male voters would prefer being called a patriot to a good citizen, compared to 20% of female voters. Men are also slightly more likely than women to consider getting involved in politics more important than volunteer work when it comes to being a good citizen.
Seventy-three percent (73%) of Democrats and 53% of voters not affiliated with either party would rather be called a good citizen. Republicans agree but by a much narrower 45% to 39% margin.
GOP voters tend to think being a good citizen and being a patriot are one and the same. Democrats and unaffiliated voters tend to see a difference between the two.
There’s little partisan disagreement, however, when it comes to the importance of church and community volunteer work over getting involved in politics.
Mainstream voters are almost evenly divided when asked if being a good citizen is the same as being a patriot, but 55% of the Political Class think the two are not the same. Eighty-one percent (81%) of those in the Political Class would rather be a good citizen versus 52% of those in the Mainstream.
Most voters hold politicians in pretty low esteem and view many of their elected representatives as corrupt. In a November 2009 survey, just 17% of voters wanted their child to grow up to be a politician.
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