Trust in Washington is falling to historic lows, while local government remains the most trusted government institution in America. For local radio, the gap reinforces the value of community coverage at a time when confidence in national institutions continues to erode.
Gallup’s annual Governance poll, conducted September 1 to 17, found five measures of trust in the federal government at lows in the organization’s trends. A great deal or fair amount of trust in the executive branch and in the federal government’s ability to handle both international and domestic problems each stands at 33% of US adults. Trust in the legislative branch is 28%, and trust in the judicial branch is 46%, its lowest reading.
Some of the drops are steep. Trust in the federal government’s ability to handle international problems is down 12 percentage points from last year, and trust in the executive branch is down eight points, seven below its prior low of 40%. Trust in the American people as a whole, at 51%, is the lowest Gallup has measured, while 42% trust politicians and 33% trust the mass media, a slight uptick from last year’s historical low.
Closer to home, the picture changes. Local government is trusted by 67% of US adults, and that figure has ranged between 63% and 77% since 1972. Gallup found Americans express more trust in local government than in any other government institution or civic group. State government stands at 55%. Party differences are modest at the local level, with 74% of Democrats and 64% of both Republicans and independents trusting their local government.
For radio, those numbers point to where the opportunity sits. Local stations cover the city councils, school boards, and emergency declarations of the governments Americans trust most, in the communities those governments serve. When national institutions are trusted by a third of the public, the station that explains what a local decision means and tells listeners where to find help is working in the most trusted corner of public life.
Gallup also noted that trust in government has not disappeared but is mainly found among those whose preferred party is in power, while radio holds trust across the political spectrum. A Katz Media Group study found 80% of voters rate radio trustworthy, including 84% of Democrats, 80% of independents, and 78% of Republicans. A recent Alter Agents study, commissioned by Audacy, found 84% of Americans trust local news radio.
