Only 19 percent of Americans say they trust the government most of the time


Only 19 percent of Americans say they generally trust the federal government to do what is right, according to a Pew Research Center report published Monday. That's near historic lows, according to Pew's data from 1958 onward.
The 19 percent figure breaks down into two groups: 3 percent who feel they can always trust the government and 16 percent who mostly trust the government. But on an issue level, a large majority of the survey participants did say the government is doing a good job with certain objectives, like protecting the U.S. from terror, responding to natural disasters, and regulating food and medicine.
Naturally, there's a partisan divide evident in all of this. During President Obama's administration so far, an average of 13 percent of Republicans have said they can trust the government all or most of the time, compared to 29 percent of Democrats.
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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.
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