Waning Faith

Trust in the institutions that administer updates, research, and guidance regarding COVID is at an all time low. Less than 39% of Americans trust the federal government to solve problems, both internationally and domestically, according to a poll conducted this fall, and a comparable number, just 42%, say that the government does a good job handling public health threats. Public trust in the government is less than half of what it was even during the tumultuous, scandal-ridden era of Watergate and has generally been trending downwards since the mid-20th century.

The mass media has suffered a similar shift, with a little over a third of Americans granting it a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust—a figure that’s been nearly halved in just under 40 years.  And the CDC also hasn’t been spared, with only a slim majority of Americans placing a great deal of trust in the federal agency. 

Partisanship has also certainly had its influence; a graph from Gallup reveals that Democrats’ and Republicans’ trust in the federal government’s ability to handle problems swings dramatically based on which party holds executive power, with partisans’ trust tending to drop off a cliff the second the opposing party takes power.

Crisis situations require a government with authority and a people willing to listen. Slowing the spread of COVID has especially been a community effort, with a large majority of people needing to buy into safety measures to ensure their effectiveness. But when most Americans are hesitant to rely on the government and media for information and instructions, disease control gets a lot more difficult.