"Historically, Americans have always been more concerned about big government than big business or big labor..."

Gallup polling shows a trend dating back to the 1960s, as new data show fear of big government hitting 64% — hitting near the pre-9/11 all-time peak of 65%.



Even Democrats are more afraid of big government than of big business, which was not the case in 2009. Since 2009, and despite the Occupy Wall Street clamor about business, big business as the greatest fear has declined by 4 percentage points among Republicans and independents and 8 percentage points among Democrats.

Note that the graph only shows the apportionment of fear among 3 sources of fear, not the total amount of fear. It's possible that people are less afraid of government than before, but that they have an even greater reduction in fear of big business and big labor.