The 2024 American election coverage proved one thing; Americans have little trust in their own government no matter who is at the helm. Public trust in government is near all-time lows as shown on this graphic from the Pew Research Center:
The level of trust in government tends to be higher among those who declare their political persuasion depending on who is in control of the presidency (i.e. trust in government among Republicans tends to be higher when a Republican president is in control of the White House and vice versa) as shown here:
A national survey conducted by the Partnership for Public Service which also looks at how the American public views the public service echoes the findings of Pew except that their results show a major decrease in trust in the federal government between 2022 and 2024:
In addition, Partnership found that only 15 percent of Americans believe that the federal government is transparent, down from 21 percent in 2022 and 66 percent of Americans believe that the federal government, up 10 percentage points over the two year period. Not surprisingly, only 29 percent of Americans believe that democracy is working in the United States today compared to 68 percent who state that democracy is not working.
Here is the results of Partnership's survey showing trust in the federal government for various demographic groups, comparing 2022 to 2024:
What I found astonishing was the decline in the percentage of Democrats who trusted in government given that their party was in control of Washington with only 39 percent of Democrats trusting the federal government in 2024 compared to 59 percent in 2022.
If we look at how Americans view the impact of their federal government, we find this:
In 2024, only 31 percent of Americans believe that the federal government has a positive impact on the United States as a whole and on them as individuals, down 11 percentage points and 9 percentage points from 2023 respectively.
Here is a graphic showing how Americans view the federal government as measured with several key metrics:
A substantial and growing percentage of Americans believe that the U.S. federal government is wasteful, corrupt and incompetent.
Here are the areas where Americans believe that the federal government could improve to become more effective and trustworthy:
As a whole, Americans believe that an effective federal government and strong civil service are important for a vibrant and strong democracy with American voters believing that governments should provide for the needs of individual Americans above any political interest. That said, most Americans believe that they are not getting the government that they want or deserve and that political leaning plays too much of a role in the working of government today.
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I presume that you meant to write, "...American voters believing that governments should put their needs above any political interest" in your final paragraph. THAT concern, of government NOT putting voters needs first, is a major source of American mistrust in public institutions.
ReplyDeleteFor example, 3 days ago, our current Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, made the following remarks to the press:
"As we’re working to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to effectively defend itself, the United States continues to step up. We’ve obligated just recently and pushed out the door another $8 billion in security assistance for Ukraine – that was in September, another almost half a billion dollars just a few weeks ago, and President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and January 20th. We’re making sure that Ukraine has the air defenses it needs, that has the artillery it needs, that has the armored vehicles it needs."
This is infuriating! Our elected officials in highest office are committed to making sure that every dollar the US has will be sent to Ukraine between now and 20 Jan 2025?! No. Blinken and Biden should be committed to making sure that every dollar the US has will be spent on American citizens, not Ukraine.