Fox News Poll: Voters Tired of Partisan Bickering, Loud Cell Phone Talkers

American voters are tired and fed up. With what? You name it. Two items essentially tie for top billing: partisan bickering in Washington and the growing federal budget deficit.

To gauge voters' moods, the latest Fox News poll asked respondents if they were "fed up with and tired of" several issues.

An overwhelming majority — 82 percent — says they are fed up with partisan bickering in Washington, up from 77 percent in 2005.

Almost as many voters are annoyed with the growing federal budget deficit — 81 percent say they are fed up with that.

This helps explain why Congress' job approval is down to 14 percent. Only once before in the Fox News poll has it been lower, when lawmakers received a 13 percent approval rating in October 2008.

The public is also losing patience with government spending: 73 percent say they are fed up with Uncle Sam's spending spree.

Even before the all-day health care summit on Thursday, nearly 7 in 10 voters said they were fed up with the health care reform debate (67 percent).

Smaller majorities say they are fed up with "poor customer service" (57 percent) and "people having loud cell phone conversations" (53 percent).

Less than 4 voters in 10 say they are tired of snowstorms (36 percent), although polling was conducted before another major snowstorm blasted the Northeast. Even so, nearly half of those living in the Midwest (47 percent) and Northeasterners (46 percent) say they are fed up with shoveling.

Finally, in these times of high unemployment, only a few voters say they are fed up with their job (9 percent).

The national telephone poll was conducted for Fox News by Opinion Dynamics Corp. among 900 registered voters from Feb. 23 to Feb. 24. For the total sample, the poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Views Among Groups
For Democrats, among the items tested, they are most fed up with partisan bickering (82 percent), and the growing deficit comes in a distant second (67 percent).

It's a different story for Republicans as almost all -- 92 percent -- have had it with government spending and a similar number say they fed up with the deficit (90 percent). The health care reform debate comes in third (82 percent), which puts the Democrats' top annoyance of partisan bickering in the number four spot for Republicans (80 percent).

The top item among independents: the growing deficit (91 percent), although the fighting in Washington comes in a fairly close second (86 percent).

Groups most likely to say they are tired of loud cell phone talkers include Northeasterners (66 percent) and people age 60 and over (65 percent). Forty-four percent of young voters under age 30 say they are fed up with people having loud cell phone conversations, while 54 percent say no, they don't feel that way.