Yesterday, the editors of the Wall Street Journal cited
. . . a remarkable Gallup poll this week that asked the public about its views of government and various businesses. The federal government dropped to its lowest approval levels ever. Only 17% were positive, 63% negative, for a net approval rating of minus-46%. Government never ranks well, but for the first time since Gallup began asking in 2003 it fell to last place—below even the oil and gas industry, which netted minus-44% approval.
This wasn’t the only survey showing a decline of public confidence in the federal government. Such surveys, they contend, reflect “the historical pattern of modern American politics: Every time Democrats attempt to govern the country from the ideological left, they damage government’s reputation and status.”
Interesting that confidence in the federal government peaked in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.
“The lesson,” the editors conclude, “is that public trust in government is highest when Washington is retreating from the broad spending, tax and regulatory agenda that prevailed in the late 1960s, 1970s, early 1990s and now today.”
I think you are drawing the wrong conclusions based on what I see in this graph. Confident in the Government seems to follow the economy anymore, going up when the economy rebounded in the 80s, driving down in the early 90s, rising up in the late 90’s and early 00’s only to drive down into the current economic malaise.
It is more surprising that people don’t seem more willingly to trust the Government in times of distress anymore. I guess that is the fault of both parties botched efforts in running it.
For the first 150-years of the Republic, the typical citizen’s only direct-contact in their day-to-day lives was with the Federal Government was at the Post Office.
The two largest Federal agencies at the turn of the 19th-century were the US Post Office and the US Customs Service. And the money in their pockets was issued by private banks or the US Treasury and backed dollar-for-dollar in gold-on-demand. And their coins were gold or silver worth their face-value.
Lots of things in the graph are interesting.
– Big decline in the 60s and 70s: obviously Vietnam (which btw is an example of Big Government, i.e. the draft), Watergate and the social decline that was stimulated by Johnson’s Great Society.
– But the trough was 1979 where, added to those things, you had Jimmuh Carter and high regulation, malaise, inflation, gas lines and cardigan sweaters.
– Reagan recovered from some of that.
– But even Reagan took a hit in the late 80s from Iran-Contra. Then Bush 41 took a hit from breaking his “no new taxes” pledge, and the recession that followed.
– But the trough was 1994 when people saw what the Clinton administration (not yet de-fanged by Gingrich) was going to try to do: HillaryCare.
– The “Clinton de-fanged” (by Gingrich) and early Bush 43 administrations recovered from that, with a peak after 9-11 as you say.
– Then it declined in the rest of Bush 43 administration, who of course was growing government (a new entitlement and lots of new domestic spending).
A very good case.
No. That big plunge in the 60s happened during good economic times: likewise the big plunge in the later part of Bush 43. (Remember 4% unemployment? It was only 5 years ago. The mid-00s were not a time of malaise, quite the opposite.)
Hmm. Come to think of it… the graph does map somewhat to the rise/fall in the value of the dollar.
Not perfectly. But better than it maps to the high/low economic growth, or unemployment. It could partly save DER’s claim, i.e. the graph maps roughly to a certain important aspect of the economy. And it still preserves the WSJ claim, because the two go together: roughly speaking, the value of the dollar tends to be weakest when government is at its biggest and most out-of-control. (The reason being that fiscal discipline tends to strengthen the dollar.)
Anymore meant, in more modern times, but I should have stated it more specifically. I think it has to do with people expecting more of the Government to fix economic issues, which might be because we have turned the government into a fix all for our problems. Government is more persuasive in our lives since the 50s which probably opens it more to the blame for the everyday problems.
The best economic times we had had recently through the late 90s to early 00’s is reflected in the spike in economic confidence. It might be just people were feeling great about the future and confident in the direction of the country and leaders. I actually think the confidence in government would have flagged sooner if not for 9/11 and the rally around the flag effect.
Americans, in general, distrust government.
And the more interaction Americans have with Government, the less regard they have for it. When most people’s interaction with Government was limited to the post office, the highway system, and maybe the National Guard in an emergency … a few limited tasks at which Government was fairly competent… they felt fairly good about it. When you have to confront a range of bureaucracies on a daily basis most of which exist to stop or delay you from doing something you want or need to do… your perception of Government is quite different.
The punitive arm of the government has increased. I used to file the 401(k) reports for my company. The forms/rules keep changing. I can’t keep up with the changes. The fines are outrageous ! I have now outsourced the filing of the 401(k) reports. It costs more but I can sleep better at night.
TnnsNe1 makes an important point that is generally misunderstood by the average wage worker.
The government loads the business with regulatory reporting requirements and the cost “of doing business” is thus escalated. Ultimately, the customers bear the cost of these regulations and the business is more reluctant to expand payroll costs. Therefore, the government causes price inflation and lower employment.
When the common man gripes about the cost of a medical appointment, that same common man has no concept of the cost and burden placed on the doctor or clinic for the bookkeeping, reporting and delayed remuneration involved with government regulations and bureaucratic red tape, incompetence, etc.