Poll: Washington can't fix economic mess

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. residents have little confidence the federal government can fix the nation's economic woes and are dissatisfied with the political system, a poll found.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents said they have little or no confidence in Washington's ability to fix the economy, results released in a Washington Post poll released Wednesday indicated. About four in 10 people expressed no confidence at all in the federal government on economic matters.

Nearly eight in 10 poll participants said they were dissatisfied with the political system, with 45 percent saying they are "very" dissatisfied, results indicated.

More than seven in 10 Americans polled said Washington is focused on the "wrong things," the Post said.

Confidence in President Obama to make the right decisions for the country's economic future was 33 percent, a 10 percentage point drop since January. Confidence in congressional Republicans fell to 18 percent from 35 percent in January.

Obama's overall job ratings were 44 percent approval and 46 percent disapproval in the Post survey, both numbers down from three weeks ago, when he was at 47 percent and 48 percent, respectively.

Results are based on a national telephone survey of 601 adults conducted Tuesday. The margin of error is 4.5 percentage points.