{"id":27066,"date":"2014-09-28T10:48:36","date_gmt":"2014-09-28T02:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=27066"},"modified":"2014-09-27T20:51:11","modified_gmt":"2014-09-27T12:51:11","slug":"slackers-arent-the-only-ones-dazed-and-confused-by-some-big-us-political-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/09\/28\/slackers-arent-the-only-ones-dazed-and-confused-by-some-big-us-political-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Slackers aren\u2019t the only ones dazed and confused by some big US political issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"shutterstock_147175274\"<\/a><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON\u2014Confused by the federal health care law? How about the debate over NSA surveillance? The way the Federal Reserve affects interest rates?<\/p>\n

You\u2019re far from alone.<\/p>\n

Most Americans say the issues facing the country are getting harder to fathom.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just people who\u2019ve tuned out politics who feel perplexed. Those paying attention\u2014people who vote regularly, follow news about November\u2019s midterm election, or simply feel a civic duty to stay informed\u2014are most likely to say that issues have become \u201cmuch more complicated\u201d over the last decade, an Associated Press-GfK poll shows.<\/p>\n

Why are things such a muddle?<\/p>\n

Karla Lynn of Lavaca, Arkansas, blames politicians who would rather snipe at each other than honestly explain the nation\u2019s problems in straightforward terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll spin everything,\u201d said Lynn, 61, a retired product developer. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to wade through so much muck to try to find the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big swamp to wade through.<\/p>\n

David Stewart blames the deluge from social media, partisan blogs and 24-hour news sites for complicating things. At one time people would only see a news story about a violent group like the Islamic State, he said, but now they watch the militants\u2019 videos of beheadings online.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople get a little overwhelmed by all the information about what\u2019s going on in the world,\u201d said Stewart, 40, a salesman at a home improvement store in Georgetown, Kentucky. The father of three said it takes time from an already busy life to go online and sort out \u201cwhat\u2019s fluff, what\u2019s been engineered, and what\u2019s actually true and believable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The issue that stumps Stewart most? President Barack Obama\u2019s health care overhaul. It can sound like a tragedy or a godsend, depending whether Republicans or Democrats are talking about it.<\/p>\n

Nearly three-fourths of Americans find it difficult, according to the AP-GfK poll, and about 4 in 10 say it\u2019s \u201cvery hard\u201d to understand.<\/p>\n

One obvious reason: The law really is complex. Politicians even say so.<\/p>\n

Republicans were condemning \u201cObamacare\u201d as a regulatory morass even before it passed. When the federal website enrolling people crashed last year, Obama himself pointed to the enormous size of the undertaking. \u201cIt\u2019s complicated,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Politicians do try to make issues sound simpler. They like to invoke your own family budget when talking about the national debt.<\/p>\n

But in the AP-GfK poll, confidence in dealing with household problems didn\u2019t offer much help in understanding national matters. For example, most under age 30 said it\u2019s easy to protect your privacy and financial information online. But most young adults think it\u2019s hard to understand the National Security Agency\u2019s data collection programs. Americans over age 50 find both personal computer security and the NSA issue difficult.<\/p>\n

The interest rates you pay? Wealthier people are more likely to find rates on personal loans easy to understand. But the poll shows no difference by income in comprehending the Fed\u2019s interest rate policy.<\/p>\n

And then there are the international problems that ensnare the U.S.<\/p>\n

In his speech to the United Nations last week, Obama spoke of terrorists in Iraq and Syria as the type of danger that threatens a faster-paced, interconnected world.<\/p>\n

What began 13 years ago as a U.S. campaign to destroy al-Qaida has evolved into battles against numerous offshoots.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, in my estimation, the problems are much more variegated and much more complex and diffuse than they\u2019ve ever been,\u201d said Bruce Hoffman, a Georgetown University historian who has studied terrorism for four decades.<\/p>\n

Among Americans strongly interested in political news, nearly 6 in 10 say political issues facing the United States are \u201cmuch more complicated\u201d than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Of course, creating Medicare and waging the Cold War weren\u2019t easy, either.<\/p>\n

Perhaps nostalgia blurs people\u2019s judgment of current troubles?<\/p>\n

Sheila Suess Kennedy, director of the Indiana University Center for Civic Literacy, thinks there\u2019s more to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only are we dealing with a more complex environment, we are dealing with a more ambiguous environment,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cPeople want \u2018this is good and this is bad.\u2019 Increasingly we live with \u2018there\u2019s black and there\u2019s white and there\u2019s a whole lot of grey.\u201d\u2018<\/p>\n

The AP-GfK Poll was conducted July 24-28 using KnowledgePanel, GfK\u2019s probability-based online panel designed to be representative of the U.S. population. Results from online interviews with 1,044 adults have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.<\/p>\n

Respondents were first selected randomly using phone or mail survey methods, and later interviewed online. Some question wording used in this survey comes from the General Social Survey, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. People selected for KnowledgePanel who didn\u2019t otherwise have access to the Internet were provided with the ability to access the Internet at no cost.<\/p>\n

AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

Online<\/h6>\n

AP-GfK Poll:\u00a0http:\/\/www.ap-gfkpoll.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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