Deep partisan divide in Americans’ trust in government institutions

According to RCO News Agency, the new Gallup Institute survey shows a deep transformation in the relationship of the American people with the government institutions of this country and shows that trust in the American federal government has reached its lowest level in the last 50 years.

According to this report, only 45% of American adults trust the government’s ability to manage international issues, and only 38% trust its performance in domestic affairs. The findings suggest that political polarization has transformed the nature of public trust, making it highly dependent on the party in control of the White House.

Decreased trust in government institutions

The Gallup report states that trust in the three main branches of the federal government remains low: Only 32 percent of respondents trust the U.S. Congress, while 49 percent trust the country’s judicial system. 2 decades ago, trust in these institutions was at the majority level, but now these figures are close to historical lows. However, although people’s level of trust is now highly dependent on their political leanings, the relative stability in average trust has masked deep partisan divides.

The Gallup poll shows that the trust of Republicans has increased significantly compared to last year, especially in the executive branch, which has increased by 83 percentage points. Similarly, their confidence in the government’s ability to manage international and domestic challenges has grown by 64 and 57 points, respectively. On the other hand, the trust of the Democrats in the same areas has decreased drastically and has dropped between 56 and 78 points. The trust of the independents has remained almost constant and is closer to the positions of the party opposing the government.

Gallup explains that these partisan swings are a major factor in the long-term decline in public trust in the federal government. In the past, both supporters and opponents of the ruling party maintained some level of trust in institutions, but in recent decades, trust among opponents of the government has collapsed, while that of supporters of the ruling party has remained relatively high.

Gallup first measured Americans’ trust in the federal government between 1972 and 1976 and again from 1997. In the 1970s, the average confidence of opposition party supporters in the ruling government’s ability to manage international affairs was 64 percent, but now it has dropped to 20 percent. Trust in the government in domestic affairs has also fallen from 54 percent in the 1970s to 18 percent, and trust in the executive branch among the president’s opponents has fallen from 49 percent to just 7 percent.

This decrease in trust has also spread to other powers. Trust in Congress has decreased by 40 points and trust in the judicial system has dropped by 13 points. Americans now define their trust not by the structure of government, but by the party in power, Gallup concludes.

Relative stability among government supporters

In contrast, the level of trust among the president’s supporters has remained almost constant compared to five decades ago. Gallup says 71 percent of the ruling party’s supporters trust the government’s ability to handle domestic affairs, roughly the same as the 70 percent average in the 1970s. Also, 76 percent of them are confident in the government’s ability to manage international affairs, which is only slightly less than in the past.

Trust in the executive branch among this group is 87 percent, compared to 75 percent in the 1970s. Part of the decline in trust during that era, according to Gallup, was influenced by the Watergate scandal. Still, the president’s supporters now express levels of confidence similar to decades past.

The report adds that even among supporters of the government, trust in Congress and the judiciary has declined. Trust in the Supreme Court, especially after issuing some controversial judgments, has faced a significant drop.

Widening the party divide

According to Gallup, the gap between Republicans and Democrats in trust in government institutions has increased significantly. In the 1970s, the difference in trust in the executive branch between the two parties was an average of 26 points; Today, this gap has reached 80 points, so that 92% of Republicans and only 4% of Democrats trust the executive branch.

The party difference in trusting the government’s ability to manage international and domestic issues has also tripled compared to the 1970s and has reached an average of 57 and 53 points, respectively. Although this gap is smaller in the cases of Congress and the judicial system, they have also seen an increase in the gap in recent years.

Additionally, one of Gallup’s key findings is the steady decline in trust among independent voters. Compared to the 1970s, the trust level of this group has dropped by more than 20 units in all areas. The average trust of independents now varies between 30 and 40 percent, except for the judicial system, which has attracted 50 percent of trust. Gallup emphasizes that although the confidence of independents is slightly higher than that of opponents of the government, it is still considered lower than in the past.

Continued trust in state and local governments / mistrust in the media and politicians

Although trust in the federal government has declined, the results of the Gallup poll show that Americans still have more trust in their state and local governments. Currently, 59% of people trust their state governments and 65% trust their local governments. These figures are slightly different from the average of the last decade and show a limited decrease compared to the 1970s.

Gallup says partisan influence at the state and local levels is much smaller than at the federal level, because many local entities operate outside the realm of partisan competition. Despite some minor differences between the parties, these gaps remain narrow.

In another part of its report, this polling institute measured trust in key actors in the democratic process; including the media, politicians and the people themselves. According to the survey, only 53 percent of adults trust the public’s judgment in a democratic system, the lowest level ever recorded. Trust in politicians has reached 41% and trust in the media has reached the lowest historical level of 28%.

According to Gallup, trust in the media has decreased by 36 points, trust in the public by 30 points, and trust in politicians by 23 points since the 1970s. Unlike government institutions, these reductions are common among all party groups.

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