12% See Secession Attempt as Very Likely in Next 25 Years Or So

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

As far as most Americans are concerned, the United States isn’t going away any time soon.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 28% of Adults believe it is at least somewhat likely that some states will try to leave the United States and form an independent country over the next 25 years or so. Sixty-four percent (64%) say a secession attempt is unlikely.

These figures include 12% who say it is Very Likely and 22% who say it is Not At All Likely.

Eighteen percent (18%) of Americans believe that individual states have the right to leave the United States and form an independent country. Sixty-three percent (63%) say states do not have that right and 19% are not sure. Those figures are little changed since February.

Twenty-three percent (23%) of all Americans think it’s at least somewhat likely that the United States will split up into regional groups of states over the next quarter-century or so. Only nine percent (9%) say it is Very Likely.

Despite all the Tea Party unhappiness in the country and the increasing partisanship in this midterm election year, only 10% of adults say it would be good for the United States to split up into regional groups of states. Seventy percent (70%) say that would be bad for the country. But, interestingly, another 20% aren’t sure.

Just 21% of voters nationwide believe the government today has the consent of the governed.

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This nationwide survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on June 18-19, 2010 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. See methodology.

Among Republicans, however, 40% see a likelihood that some states will leave, compared to 15% of Democrats and 31% of adults not affiliated with either party. Nearly one-out-of-five Republicans (18%) say a breakup of the country is Very Likely.

Constitutional scholars still debate whether states have the right to secede from the United States under the U.S. Constitution. The most prominent example, of course, is the Civil War in which President Lincoln used military force to prevent the Southern states from seceding from the union

A year ago, 11% said they would vote for their state to secede from the United States, while 83% said they would vote for their state to stay in the union.

Eighteen percent (18%) of Texas voters would opt to leave, but 75% would vote to remain part of the United States.

Nationally, 22% of Republicans and 23% of adults not affiliated with either major party believe that states have the right to leave the United States. Only nine percent (9%) of Democrats agree.

But voters nationwide strongly believe that a state should have the right to opt out of federal programs it doesn’t like.

Seventy percent (70%) or more of voters have been angry about the policies of the federal government for months now, but most also feel that neither Democratic nor Republican leaders have a good understanding of what is needed today.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of all adults nationwide say most politicians want to grow the government with more power and money. By comparison, 58% say most voters want the government to have less power and money.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of voters nationwide believe the United States is the last best hope of mankind. Twenty-six percent (26%) disagree, and 24% are not sure.

But only 40% say America's best days are in the future. Slightly more (45%) feel the country's best days are behind us.

Thirty-two percent (32%) believe the United States will still be the most powerful nation in the world at the end of the 21st Century. Forty-five percent (45%) disagree.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... ears_or_so