Trust in Government

THE STRUCTURE, PROCEDURES, and legitimacy of American democracy rely on a system in which a body of citizens freely elects its government representatives. For this form of government to function effectively, it must be accountable to the people and the people must have trust in it. The extent to which people have trust in government is of great importance because it affects how and why they vote, which can have an enormous influence on the composition and function of government. Trust is a psychological dimension. It comes in many forms and from many sources, so people evaluate or perceive it differently. There is, however, general consensus on how citizens determine their degree of trust in government. People tend to have more trust in government when they feel satisfied with the performance of their leaders and institutions. However, government is susceptible to lower degrees of trust among the public during times of deception, controversy, or inattentiveness to the needs and interests of the population.

Because citizens have the right to vote for their government representatives, trust is an important feature of the process and outcome of voter decisions. Varying degrees of trust in government affect how voters feel about particular candidates, policy proposals, issues, institutions, and the overall legitimacy of government. Whether the people of a democracy trust their government can alter the result of an election. A relationship predicated on trust between people and government is concept expressed in the Constitution and other documents and works authored by founding fathers such as Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton. Implicit in their thoughts was the knowledge that the citizenry would not always be in favor of government policy and action; they consequently instituted representative government as a means by which to protect against any public inclination toward a system of direct control. However, at the core of their doctrine was the notion that the primary source of political power in a democracy lies with the people.

Although there are many ways to measure trust, scholars, pollsters, and observers agree that people's trust in government has been in decline since the 1960s. As the United States developed through the 19th century and into the 20th century, people increasingly believed U.S. government was capable enough and could be relied on to do almost anything. This view was fostered by government's effective organization and mobilization during World War I and World War II, and exemplified by people's dependence on government to relieve the Great Depression. But by the 1960s, government had become increasingly bureaucratic. Government bureaucracy, together with changing social norms, expanding media scrutiny, controversy over the war in Vietnam, and the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s, left the public increasingly disenchanted with, and distrustful of government. Through the remainder of the 20th century and into the early 21st century, remnants of these affairs combined with various other economic, social, and political events to continue—with a few exceptions, such as the months following the attacks of 9/11—this downward trend.

Although the economic, social, and political issues that dominate the headlines often shape people's perceptions of government, less visible and less direct factors also contribute to their trust in government. These underlying variables include people's identification with a political party, whether government policy reflects (or otherwise aligns with) public preferences, and perceptions about the fairness, openness, and responsiveness of government and political figures. [Page 798]Identification with a political party provides a shortcut through which people acquire context and clarity about the vast amount of information contained in the political world. It also increases the likelihood that people will vote, and is an indicator of which candidates and policies they will support. Further, people who identify with a particular party usually have a lot of confidence in it.

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