The Declining Public Trust in the American Government

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 play their needs 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.