{"id":7073404,"date":"2026-10-02T21:39:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T21:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7073404"},"modified":"2026-10-02T21:39:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T21:39:56","slug":"how-can-government-serve-the-people-when-so-few-trust-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7073404","title":{"rendered":"How Can Government Serve the People When So Few Trust It?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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We\u2019ve documented numerous times the collapse of voter trust in government and public officials, a problem that has only intensified as national politics turns ever more polarized and dysfunctional. New data from <\/span>YouGov<\/a><\/strong> shows that in early 2026, there are only <\/span>two<\/em> agencies in the entire federal government that most Americans say are trustworthy\u2014the National Park Service (NPS) at 57 percent and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at 52 percent. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) are viewed as trustworthy by more than four in ten Americans, and the rest of the agencies on the list receive paltry trustworthiness marks.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Parks and rockets <\/strong>are the only two government functions that Americans reliably trust, along with some minor love for weather reports and support for the elderly and disabled. That\u2019s it.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a truly pathetic situation that goes well beyond partisans yelling, \u201cIt\u2019s Biden\u2019s fault!\u201d or \u201cIt\u2019s Trump\u2019s fault!\u201d Years of neglect and incompetent management by both parties have left Americans across the divides deeply distrustful or uncertain about the trustworthiness of the public sector in areas ranging from health and education to justice and national security.<\/p>\n

Partisans, of course, have their favorites and least favorites: e.g., Democrats are much less trusting of ICE, DHS, CBP, the Pentagon, and the Justice Department than Republicans, while Republicans are much less trusting of USAID, the EPA, and the CDC than Democrats.<\/p>\n

But beyond the expected dislike of certain government functions that don\u2019t fit each party\u2019s respective ideological biases, it\u2019s much more concerning that Americans overall don\u2019t seem to trust much of <\/span>anything<\/em> carried out or released by the government, even basic information. Other data highlighted by YouGov shows that only 23 percent of U.S. adults believe that all or most of the statistics reported by the government are \u201creliable and accurate\u201d\u2014down from 36 percent just a year ago. Similarly, if you look at the chart below, you\u2019ll see <\/span>at most<\/em> only around one third of adults deem a range of specific government statistics from population counts to crimes to the number of COVID-19 deaths to be trustworthy information.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Although there are expected partisan divides on many of these measures given who is in power at any given point, the much bigger question is whether government in the public interest is even possible anymore\u2014at least in terms of whether Americans themselves will ever again view its work as reliable, trustworthy, and valuable independent of who is in charge.<\/p>\n

My guess is that most Americans respect and value the hard work and dedication of those civil servants who help keep our country safe, clean, healthy, secure, prosperous, well-educated, and orderly. Sure, there are constant hits on layabout bureaucrats and \u201cgovernment fraud,\u201d with many of these complaints being legitimate grievances, but the work of the public sector and government agencies is often grueling, underpaid, and subject to constant whiplash by wealthy members of Congress and presidents trying to score political points. <\/p>\n

Federal workers do the business of the American people mostly well and mostly without complaint. We need <\/span>genuine leadership<\/em> from the legislative and executive branches to back up these workers and ensure that the activities and services of the federal government are unmatched in their excellence. The government should never settle for mediocre services or throw up its hands and say the system is what it is and can\u2019t be fixed. The government should aim higher to achieve the levels of public backing and support that many private sector companies receive from Americans based on the quality of the services and products they supply\u2014and their responsiveness to consumers. This will require far more transparency from government agencies plus constant internal reviews and upgrading of techniques and methods used to carry out the people\u2019s work. <\/span><\/p>\n

Likewise, Congress should pay its bills and stop using shutdowns of agencies and threatened defaults to make meaningless ideological points. We\u2019ve had two federal government shutdowns in a mere six months, basically for no reason and no discernible outcome other than partisan spite. Programs and agency budgets that are superfluous or out-of-date should be eliminated through the legislative process, and money saved should be used to reduce deficits or shifted into other proven projects that people need to live a good life or get ahead. <\/p>\n

Finally, vital information released to the public on the state of the economy or our overseas commitments or public health or national emergencies <\/span>must always<\/em> be viewed as truly neutral facts and advice, entirely free of partisan interference by outside political actors trying to defend their positions and from internal managers trying to achieve some ideological goal. If public officials can\u2019t or won\u2019t adhere to these standards, they should be promptly removed and replaced by others who will.<\/span><\/p>\n

America is a fantastic nation<\/strong> that faces an array of manageable economic and security challenges that can be overcome if we put our minds to the task more cooperatively and end the ridiculous partisan degrading of the public sector. We need a federal government and workforce better managed and operated and ready to work in partnership with private businesses and civil society to keep improving the lives of all Americans and maintain a robust national economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

If politicians in the two parties would rather preen on social media than work in concert to help build a high-functioning governmental system, then they should retire from public life or expect to be voted out by citizens and replaced with officials genuinely interested in making government work better for the people. <\/p>\n

When it comes to the federal government, trust is a one-way street. The government must earn the trust of Americans, not expect them to go along with shoddy services, poorly designed programs, and surly or entitled attitudes from politicians.<\/p>\n

Share<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve documented numerous times the collapse of voter trust in government and public officials, a problem that has only intensified as national politics turns ever more polarized and dysfunctional. New data from YouGov shows that in early 2026, there are only two agencies in the entire federal government that most Americans say are trustworthy\u2014the National […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7073405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4378,3794,13854,1313],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7073404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-government","tag-people","tag-serve","tag-trust"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Can Government Serve the People When So Few Trust It? - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7073404\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Can Government Serve the People When So Few Trust It? - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019ve documented numerous times the collapse of voter trust in government and public officials, a problem that has only intensified as national politics turns ever more polarized and dysfunctional. 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