Are you an American? Do you feel alienated? Do you feel like your interests and concerns are not heard nor addressed by those people with power and influence?
You are not alone. A Harris Alienation Index said that the level of alienation among Americans has jumped up 11 points in one year to 63. It was 52 last year. The last time the index jumped by this much was from 1972 to 1973 during the Nixon administration. The index was also in the 60s during the presidency of Bill Clinton.
Every year since 1966, The Harris Poll as surveyed by Harris Interactive, has measured how alienated Americans feel and then calculated the Harris Alienation Index based on the results.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll survey on 1,956 adults. The Index is based on replies to five questions, many of which show major changes since last year. Here are some conclusions:
73% of all adults believe the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, compared to 68% last year;
73% believe that the people running the country don’t really care what happens to you, compared to 50% in 2010, an increase of 23%;
66% believe that what you think doesn’t count very much anymore, compared to 52% last year, an increase of 14%;
63% believe that most people in power try to take advantage of people like you compared to 53% last year, an increase of 10%; and,
41% believe that they are left out of things going on around them, compared to 37% last year.
In addition, 87% feel that the people in Washington are out of touch with the rest of the country, compared to 70% last year, an increase of 17%.
We will see if this Alienation Index would reflect on the result of next year’s elections.
The next time you feel alienated, just remember, you are not alone.
