Pew: For Every 10 Americans, Only 3 Trust The Government < CBS DC

 

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/03/11/pew-for-every-10-americans-only-3-trust-the-government/

For Every 10 Americans, Only 3 Trust The Government

March 11, 2013 10:49 AM

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A graph depicting American trust in government, which has hit historic lows during the administration of President Barack Obama. (Credit: people-press.org)

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WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – The Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. has found that fewer Americans than ever trust the decisions made by the government.

Data collected from a survey taken in January of this year indicates that all demographics and partisan groups experienced an increasing lack of faith in government leadership, according to a release posted on the Pew Research website late last week.

“However, there are disparities,” the official summary noted. “[M]ore than twice as many Hispanics as whites (44 percent vs. 20 percent) trust the federal government, and more blacks (38 percent) than whites trust the government.”

Researchers additionally observed that younger Americans trust the government more than their older counterparts, and that more liberals believe in the administration of President Barack Obama than either independents or Republicans.

Conversely, distrust of federal government is presently at 73 percent. Earlier on in the Obama administration, it reportedly hit a record high of 80 percent, according to a graph constructed and presented by researchers at Pew.

Public perception of federal government has also gone down during Obama’s presidency – particularly among Democrats.

“Since Barack Obama’s first year in office, public assessments of the federal government dropped nine points,” the release stated, citing findings from a survey conducted in April of 2012. “Most of the change was among Democrats and independents, as the level of favorable views of government among Republicans was already low.”

Trust during President George W. Bush’s time in office was not much higher – and fell far more significantly during his eight years as Commander-in-Chief.

According to Pew, almost 60 percent of people in the United States had confidence in the federal government before President Bill Clinton left office. When Bush left, national trust was down to about 25 percent of the nation’s people.

Past presidents fared far better in the minds and eyes of the American populace. Trust was reportedly especially high when President John F. Kennedy was in office.