In the latest sign of how deeply Americans are politically divided, the Environmental Protection Agency and Internal Revenue Service are among the federal agencies most admired by Democrats — and hated by Republicans.
The latest Pew Research Center poll of American attitudes of Washington shows finds that the IRS has the lowest favorable rating of any of the agencies surveyed. But that doesn’t tell the real story of how that and other agencies are caught in the political whiplash.
To help, Pew broke out how Democrats and Republicans view eight agencies. The differences are dramatic.
The agency winning an 80 percent Democratic favorable rating is the EPA, followed by CDC at 77 percent, Defense at 70 percent, NASA at 68 percent and IRS at 62 percent. The agency with the lowest Democratic favorable rating, at 46 percent, is the CIA.
Republicans think totally differently. They put the IRS at the bottom of their favorable rating, at just 30 percent. Next worst: EPA at 36 percent. Their favorite is Defense at 66 percent, followed closely by the CIA at 64 percent.
The numbers reveal a 44-point spread between Democrats and Republicans on the EPA and a 32-point difference on the IRS, the two largest differences in the Pew survey.
Pew’s analysis:
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
