(MCT) — Deep into the Great Depression, Americans cried out for help, elected Franklin D. Roosevelt in a 1932 landslide and marshaled in the era of big government. Facing a stagnant, inflation-torn economy in 1980, they rose up in a backlash against that big government by sweeping Ronald Reagan to victory.

Today, despite an ailing economy struggling to recover from the worst recession since the Roosevelt era, people show no signs of uniting behind any bold new approach. They split along many lines — income, geography, age, ideology. Older people see government with a big role in easing economic pain. Younger people are less inclined to look to Washington. Conservatives think paring the federal debt is a top priority; liberals, less so.