I came across this poll today regarding how much Americans trust the federal government in regards to domestic issues. (click to enlarge)
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| Poll 1 |
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| Poll 2 |
Shockingly, what I expected to see was completely incorrect
with the graphs. I expected to see
a large dip in 2008 from both parties (Poll 1 and 2), because of the economic
downturn. I also expected the
current state of trust in government to be higher than 2008 as a whole (Poll
1), but the percentages look nearly the same.
Around the time the Obama administration began, there was a
large spike downward in the trust of the republican party’s trust in the government,
and at that same time, a large spike up in trust for the democrats. This may be expected because the
opinions of the democrats and republicans regarding governmental trust
virtually switched places during the transition from the Bush to the Obama
administration. To me, this
reflects the large influence that political parties have over how much one
should trust the government, not so much the events actually going on in the
country at that time (like the economic crash). In 2008, the graphs reflect
that trust was lower than in years past, but certainly did not provoke as much
of a shift in trust as when the political party of the president changed.
Does one’s political party automatically mean that they
cannot be trusted to handle domestic affairs? 31% or Republican leaning voters
thought so (Poll 2), dropping their trust after Obama’s election. There may certainly be other factors involved,
and I am not denying that, nor am I simply bashing the republican party as a
whole. I think it is important to
be aware of what really affects our trust in the government, and whether or not
it is valid.
2 comments:
The increase in trust of the federal government could actually be due to the economic downturn if seen in a different light. Due to the increasing reliance on the federal government to intervene and solve the nation's economic and social problems since the New Deal, the recession could have propelled more Americans to trust in their government in a sort of optimism that the government will resolve this economic downturn. In other words, the Americans' hope and faith in the government could have increased because they want to believe that the government can fix the economic downturn.
However, I think the increase in trust in the government during the economic downturn in 2008 primarily had to do with Obama's campaign for changes, which inspired hope in the people. Furthermore, assuming that employment rate is the primary thing through which the normal people sense how the economy is doing (whether they are employed or unemployed) I would actually expect to see that the trust in government would decrease from 2008, for the unemployment rate rose from the average of 5.8% to 8.2%. Even though the unemployment rate seems to have decreased recently, it seems that Obama's promise for "changes" has not been completely fulfilled and thus more people would be disappointed in him.
unemployment rate reference: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000
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