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

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published 23 November 2015

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.

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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.