Washington Post: “The low level of trust in government is not surprise. The public is generally pessimistic about the economy and the direction of the country, and there is no major foreign policy crisis to rally the public around the president and other institutions of government. Small wonder, then, that only 19 percent of American
s interviewed in this Pew survey said that they trusted the government always or most of the time.
But when given along list of issues, most Americans still wanted government
to have a “major role” in handling those issues. The vast majority (94 percent) thought government should help keep us safe from terrorism. About three-quarters said that it should have a major role in stregthening the economy, protecting the environment and maintaining the nation’s infrastructure. Majorities also wanted the government to play a major role in helping the poor and seniors.
In fact, what’s striking is that majorities of both Republicans and Democrats felt this way on most of these issues. Here’s a graph from Pew:”
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Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
