Public trust in government has been on the decline over the years, but recent events have deepened the divide between Americans and the elected officials who represent them. Not Free America recently analyzed more than 1,700 terms and keywords related to government distrust to find the most common government distrust search term in each state. They also surveyed over 2,000 Americans to learn more about how much trust Americans have in their elected officials.
They found that the term “Deep State” was the most common search term in 15 states, followed by terms related to distrust in President Donald Trump which was the most common in 8 states. Several states appear to show a high level of distrust in elected officials within their own party. For example, “Bernie Sanders corrupt” was the most searched term in Vermont, which is the state that Sen. Sanders represents. The same can be said for Illinois (“JB Pritzker corrupt”), Georgia (“Brian Kemp corrupt”), Colorado (“Cory Gardner lies”), South Carolina (“Lindsey Graham lies”), Tennessee (“Marsha Blackburn corrupt”), Arizona (“Martha McSally lies”), Kentucky (“Mitch McConnell corrupt”), Utah (“Mitt Romney corrupt”) and Missouri (“Roy Blunt corrupt”). A staggering 54% of Americans say they have very little to no trust at all in the federal government, however levels of trust increase at the state and local level. 33% of Americans say they do not have faith and trust in the 2020 election process. For updates to the COVID-19 pandemic, 67% of Americans say they trust the CDC for accurate information. Only 44% of Americans trust the federal government for accurate COVID-19 updates. The full analysis can be seen in the graphic below.
