US Slips in Percentage of Citizens Satisfied with Personal Freedom
Published at
Photodisc/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — You might live in the land of the free but do you really feel that way?
A surprising number of Americans are complaining that their personal freedoms are slipping away as their frustration with the government and the economy continues to grow.
A Gallup poll finds that just 79 percent reported being satisfied with their personal freedom in 2013, a noticeable drop from 2006 when slightly more than nine in ten Americans felt that way.
Meanwhile, 21 percent now say they’re dissatisfied with their personal freedom, compared to nine percent in the earlier Gallup poll.
This drop in the level of satisfaction about personal freedoms puts the U.S. just 36th on a list of 120 countries with New Zealand at the top with 94 percent happy about with the way things are, followed by Australia, Cambodia and Sweden, all tied at 93 percent.
So what accounts for this slippage in the U.S.? Among other things, Americans are still wary of the economic recovery, frustrated by the inability of Washington to get things done and upset by revelations of spying by intelligence agencies as well as the IRS targeting conservative groups.
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio