For the fourth straight month, Americans have named the U.S. government as the most important problem facing the country, according to a new Gallup poll.
Eighteen percent of respondents said the government is the most important problem facing the country, up 1 percent from the last time Gallup asked the question in February.
Americans ranked the economy as the second most important problem, at 11 percent, and jobs came in third at 10 percent. Health care was tied for fourth with immigration at 7 percent.
Gallup found that only 31 percent of Americans are satisfied with the direction in which the country is headed.
"Satisfaction with the nation's direction had declined in 2013 and 2014 after reaching 33% during the 2012 fall presidential campaign. Satisfaction reached an all-time low of 7% in late 2008 as the financial crisis was underway, and an all-time high of 71% in February 1999 amid the dot-com boom," according to Gallup.
Americans' dissatisfaction with government shouldn't come as much of a surprise, considering the latest approval rating for Congress was just 18 percent, according to Real Clear Politics.
"While dissatisfaction with government is by no means a new issue to the American people, it has not in recent months been as clearly the leading problem as it is now, given that fewer Americans mention the economy," wrote Gallup's Justin McCarthy.
The poll was conducted between March 5 and 8 among a random sample of 1,025 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.
