Most Americans want major overhauls to the US economy, political system, and healthcare, survey finds

• Most Americans in a Pew survey wanted big changes to US economic, political, and healthcare systems.
• Despite widespread discontent, few Americans indicated they're confident such changes could happen.

As the postpandemic economy starts to take shape, most Americans appear to be hopeful it'll look quite different from its current state.

A majority of Americans surveyed in February indicated they wanted major changes or complete reforms to much of the way the US operates, according to a new Pew Research Center report, which included surveys of people in more than a dozen of the world's advanced economies. Eighty-five percent of surveyed American adults said they wanted an overhaul of the country's political systems, while 66% said they wanted major changes to the US economy. Just over three-fourths of respondents said there needed to be major reform to the country's healthcare systems.

The Americans surveyed were generally more dissatisfied with the government than residents of other advanced economies who were surveyed. Desires to change political systems were higher only in Spain and Italy, with 86% and 89% of respective residents wanting major overhauls.

Only the residents of South Korea, Greece, Spain, and Italy were more dissatisfied with their national economies than Americans. The US had the second-largest share of people calling for healthcare reform, surpassed only by Greece.

The findings also reveal a bleak outlook among Americans as the country pushes toward economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The US is outpacing many other countries' recoveries as rising rates of vaccinations have fueled reopening and strong consumer spending. US economic output has already fully recovered its pandemic-era slump, and officials say the country is expected to return to full employment next year.

Despite these improvements, the surveys found widespread discontent with the state of the nation. The survey period covers the time that virus cases remained elevated, the labor shortage curbed hiring, and inflation soared to decade highs. While recovery was underway, new obstacles were slowing it down.

And while most Americans said they wanted major changes throughout the country, few seemed optimistic those overhauls could happen - 85% of respondents said they wanted major political reform in the US, but only 28% expressed confidence the system could change.

Part of the pessimism comes from partisan conflict and a fraught political climate, the Pew survey indicates. Desires to overhaul some systems are starkly different between Democrats and Republicans. While 80% of Democrats said the economic system needed a complete overhaul, just half of Republicans said the same. And where 39% of Democrats wanted major changes to healthcare, roughly half as many Republicans agreed.

The partisan divide is no clearer than in the 50-50 split Senate. Democrats have struggled to pass much of President Joe Biden's legislative agenda as Republicans block efforts with the filibuster. Some of Biden's social-spending plans have been approved through the lengthy reconciliation process, which requires a 50-vote majority. Yet the complicated process can be used only so many times, and infighting between moderate and progressive Democrats also poises a challenge to Biden's spending ambitions.

Partisan divisions are partially why so many Americans are hungry for an overhaul, Pew said. Nine in 10 Americans see conflict between people of different political parties, intensifying "unhappiness with the state of democracy and a strong desire for political reform," according to Pew. Only 41% of US respondents said they were satisfied with how democracy was working.

Altogether, the survey paints a picture of a country experiencing mass discontent. Few Americans reported feeling happy with the country's political, economic, or healthcare systems. Yet most of those wanting major change aren't optimistic it can happen, and show little faith in the country's democratic processes.