Americans Still Trust Their Local Government, Even as Faith in Washington Crumbles

Americans' faith in the feds is fading, but trust in state and local government is rising substantially.

According to survey results released today by the Gallup organization, roughly two-thirds of Americans express a fair or great deal of trust in state government and even more — almost three-quarters — trust local government. The chart below graphs the trend over time. Gallup notes: "Trust in state government has now essentially returned to levels seen before the financial crisis, after falling to as low as 51 percent in 2009."