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Following the first national survey on trust in government conducted by the Partnership for Public Service in 2021, we wrote, “America is experiencing a lack of trust in major institutions—particularly in the federal government.”
Nearly five years later, the same is still true. And while there are a few exceptions, many problems facing the government have gotten worse.
This lack of trust has serious implications for how the public interacts with government and how well federal agencies can respond to major challenges facing the country.
Not only is the public’s trust low, but negative views of the government are persistent. In the Partnership’s most recent survey, only 27% of the public say they trust the federal government while 72% say it is “corrupt” and 75% say that it is “wasteful.” Just 37% believe the impact of the federal government on the country is positive.
The crisis of confidence has been exacerbated during the last two years by haphazard actions taken by the Trump administration including indiscriminate funding cuts, workforce reductions and unilateral actions bypassing Congress. These efforts are creating unprecedented challenges for communities across the country and are an attack on the fundamental purpose and role of government—to serve and protect the American people.
This report, which is part of the Partnership’s yearly State of Trust series, includes current data on the public’s views of government and examines trends since 2021.
While there have been some shifts in public opinion during that time, many of the problems faced five years ago have plagued the federal government for years. Trust in the government has been declining for the better part of six decades. Many Americans focus primarily on elected officials and who is in the White House with little knowledge of the role of civil servants and federal agencies. The perception that the government is inefficient and unaccountable furthers skepticism and distrust.
The federal government must do more than weather the current problems. It must also chart a forward-looking path that better serves the American people. To do that, it is essential to understand the public’s reasons for distrust along with their expectations and needs.
Methodology
The results in this report come from nationally representative surveys conducted by the Partnership for Public Service in conjunction with Impact Research. Beginning in 2021, the Partnership conducted surveys on a yearly basis with the exception of 2023.
The most recent results come from a nationally representative survey conducted from March 31-April 5, 2026, of 1,000 U.S. adults. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points.
Other major findings from the Partnership’s surveys:
- Americans’ perceptions of civil servants are more positive than the government as a whole and have improved in recent years.
- In general, more Americans say their personal interactions with the federal government are positive than negative, and majorities give specific activities high marks.
- The view that the government is corrupt, now at 72%, has been steady since the Partnership’s first survey in 2021.
- Far more Americans say the impact of the federal government is negative than positive.
- Americans are generally evenly split between agreeing or disagreeing with the idea that the federal government “keeps me safe.”
Americans continue to have an unfavorable view of the federal government
Trust in the federal government remains low
According to the Partnership’s most recent survey, only 27% of Americans say they trust the federal government. That is a decrease of six percentage points from the previous year when 33% trusted the government.
According to data collected by Pew Research, trust in the government is near its lowest levels in the seven decades since surveys began regularly asking about the subject in the 1960s. According to their data, the percent of people saying they trust the federal government has not surpassed 40% since 2004.
Americans consistently say the impact of the federal government is negative
Only 37% of Americans say the impact of the federal government is positive, compared with 56% who say it is negative. This view has been continual. In our past five years of surveys, no more than 42% of Americans said the U.S. government has a positive impact on the country. In all but one year (2025), more than half the country has said the impact is negative
Americans see the impact on themselves in nearly the same way as the country as a whole
In addition to asking about the impact on the country, the Partnership surveyed Americans about their views of the impact on “people like you.” Interestingly, the results people give to both questions were virtually identical. It appears that Americans do not see the impact of the federal government on the country much differently than they see the impact on themselves.
Now, 60% of Americans say the impact on “people like you” is negative, just slightly more than the 56% who say the same for the impact on the country. In previous years, the differences between those views were even smaller and within each survey’s margin of error.
The public views the federal government as corrupt
The percentage of Americans who say the government is “corrupt” has been steady since 2021. Now, 72% agree with that notion. That percentage has ranged from 67% to 74% in the past six years.
Corruption is an important issue for Americans, particularly regarding elected officials. A recent Brennan Center survey found that 92% of Americans believe corruption is a “big problem” in politics and government. A YouGov poll found that 41% of Americans believe that “more than half of members of Congress” are corrupt.
While those surveys focused primarily on views of Congress and politicians, a strong majority associate the notion of corruption with the government as a whole—a view that has not shifted much in recent years.
Government is viewed as wasteful by the majority of Americans even after attempts by the Trump administration to cut programs, services and the workforce
An earlier Partnership survey in 2024 found that using taxpayer funds more efficiently was the top action the federal government could take to become more trustworthy.
However, a large majority of the public see the federal government as wasteful (75%), the same number as in 2021.
The persistence of this view was an issue Donald Trump focused on during his 2024 presidential campaign and much of the early justification for the dramatic changes made by the administration immediately upon taking office.
On the first day, the president issued 26 executive orders, one of which established the Department of Government Efficiency tasked with eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. The stated goal of DOGE—along with continuing efforts—was to cut the federal workforce and improve government efficiency. Our research shows that most of the country feels those attempts have been unsuccessful.
In fact, the perception that the federal government is wasteful is actually greater now than it was one year ago. Three-quarters of Americans say the government is wasteful (75%), up from 61% last year.
The view that the federal government is accountable has grown in recent years
Despite the persistent belief that the government is wasteful, there has been an uptick regarding accountability.
Now, 57% of Americans agree the federal government is “accountable for what it does and how it works”—the same number as the previous year.
Prior to 2025, those numbers were lower. In 2024, only 42% said the government was accountable, which was higher than the previous two years. Between 2024 and 2025, however, there was a 15-percentage point increase which has been sustained through at least the first year of the second Trump administration.
The reasons for this change are not clear, especially considering that many other views of the government have stayed the same—or gotten worse—over that same time.
It is possible that the emphasis the Trump administration placed on cutting waste led more Americans to see the government as accountable, even though the majority have repeatedly expressed opposition to the cuts.
However, the increased view in accountability not only grew among Republicans from 2024 to 2025, but also did so among independents and Democrats, although by a lesser amount.
Americans are split on whether the federal government keeps them safe
National security and keeping the country safe are primary functions of the federal government. The makeup of the federal workforce reflects this priority. In fact, one-in-three civilian federal employees work in the Departments of the Air Force, Army, Navy and Defense.
For the past few years, Americans have been closely split between whether the government is succeeding in that goal.
Since 2022, roughly the same amount of people agreed that the government keeps them safe as those who disagreed, with the one exception coming in 2025. Now, 50% of Americans say the government keeps them safe—only slightly higher than the 44% who disagree. In 2022 and 2024, those two numbers were virtually the same.
What contributes to the views of government?
There are numerous factors that influence how the public views the federal government. Research by the Partnership found that people closely associate government with Congress and the White House—entities that are generally unpopular.
One key factor involves personal interactions between the government and the public. Activities such as voting, paying taxes, getting medical benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs or going through an airport security checkpoint are ways that Americans encounter the government directly and contribute to overall views.
In a study of democracies around the world, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development looked at other factors. They found that people who are confident in how governments make complex decisions are more likely to trust their government in its totality. Improving day-to-day service delivery is strongly associated with trust in local governments, while long-term policymaking is more associated with trust in national governments. This aligns with a recent Partnership report that found Americans want a government that effectively identifies and works to solve the country’s greatest problems.
No single dynamic accounts for how people feel about their government, although Partnership research has uncovered several trends that illustrate important contributing factors
Views of government are heavily colored by politics
Partnership research has consistently found that many members of the public think of politics, elected officials, Congress and the White House when they think about government. These entities, and politics in general, are seen negatively and are a major reason why overall views of the government are so pessimistic.
The public does not think much about federal agencies or civil servants when asked about government. Even though 87% of federal workers live and work outside the Washington, D.C. area, Americans generally relate government with the nation’s capital and elected officials above all else.
That association helps explain some of the differences between views of government by members of different political parties. These views, particularly among those who strongly self-identify as Republicans and Democrats, are heavily influenced by politics and which party controls the White House.
Partisanship might also play a key factor on a psychological level. Research by the Edelman Trust Institute suggests that trust in institutions in developed countries has stagnated due to global events and economic challenges. They argue this phenomenon is connected to an “insular trust mindset”—the reluctance for many people to trust someone who is different from themselves. Such doubt in people with dissimilar viewpoints and backgrounds might explain the strength of distrust, especially among strong partisans.
Recent attempts by the Trump administration to politicize the federal workforce and other parts of the government are likely to exacerbate this polarization.
Trust in government shifts when the president shifts
Since 1960, surveys have shown consistently that people who identify with the party of the current president have higher levels of trust than those of the other party.
Partnership data shows that trend continuing. When Joe Biden was president, Democrats were far more likely to say they trust government than Republicans. In 2024, 39% of Democrats said they trusted the government compared with only 10% of Republicans.
When Donald Trump took office, viewpoints shifted. At 42%, Republicans are now more likely to say they trust the government than Democrats at 17%.
By contrast, levels of trust among independents have not changed much even with a change in president. Now, 18% of independents say they trust the government, virtually the same number as in Biden’s last year in office (19%).
Other views on government shifted with the change of administration
This clear shift is also evident in other views of government, such as the perception of the level of corruption and the government’s impact.
From 2021 to 2024, Republicans were much more likely than Democrats and independents to say the government was corrupt. In 2025, that switched. Now, 79% of Democrats say the government is corrupt compared with 68% of independents and 66% of Republicans.
Partisanship colors how people think about their direct interactions with government
During the Biden administration, Democrats were far more likely than others to say their personal interactions were mostly positive. In 2024, 69% of Democrats agreed with that notion compared with only 31% of Republicans.
However, that changed after Trump returned to the White House. Since then, views among Republicans have improved while views among Democrats declined. Now, 62% of Republicans say their interactions are mostly positive compared with just 41% of Democrats.
While one might expect that evaluations of personal interactions are separate from politics, these results suggest otherwise. People tend to think differently about their experiences depending on which party controls the White House.
A connection between positive experiences and trust in government
Partnership surveys have found a consistent trend that people who express positivity about their personal interactions are far more likely to say they trust the federal government than those who say they had mostly negative experiences. In 2026, almost half (45%) of those who say their interactions were positive trust the government compared with only 10% of those who say most of their interactions were negative.
The cause and effect relationship between these views is hard to parse. It may be that people base their views of the government overall on their direct personal interactions—at least in part. Or it may be that those who trust the government view their interactions in a more positive light.
Regardless, research on trust shows that it is hard to earn, but easy to lose. Representatives of the federal government should remember that their direct dealings with the public are important for many reasons—one of which being they color how the public views the government as a whole.
Despite low levels of overall trust, personal experiences with the federal government are more positive than negative
For all but one of the Partnership’s yearly surveys, more Americans agreed that their personal experiences with the federal government have been mostly positive than disagree. Although still not a majority, now 49% agree their experiences have been positive compared with 38% who disagree.
Americans give specific government activities high marks
When asked about several common interactions, satisfaction levels are even more positive. These are high marks despite problems for some agencies because of staffing cutbacks by the Trump administration that have increased wait times for some services.
In 2024 and 2026, the Partnership’s surveys included questions about certain activities and found that most were highly rated and received satisfaction levels of more than 60%.
Some activities, such as applying for a passport or receiving VA benefits, had a satisfaction rate of 75% or greater.
(A similar trend was evident when the Partnership asked about specific activities in 2022, but the question wording and choices differed so direct comparisons are not possible.)
These numbers align with research by other organizations that also show high levels of satisfaction with particular activities.
Government agencies would be well-served by publicizing the effectiveness and satisfaction levels of key services in order to improve confidence among the public.
There is evidence, however, that the administration’s cuts to the federal workforce hurt customer service in some areas—problems that might show up in future assessments of satisfaction. For example, the Internal Revenue Service recently reported that staff cuts resulted in lower levels of customer service. The IRS submissions processing unit “did not have enough staff to process returns timely.” The agency did not meet its targets to process individual returns in 13 working days and business returns in 32 days, but instead took an average of 30 days and 72 days respectively.
Americans do not believe others are having positive experiences even if they are
Despite high levels of satisfaction, the federal government has an image problem relating to direct interactions. Americans do not perceive experiences with the federal government are positive for “most people.
During the past three years, the Partnership asked respondents about their perceptions of other people’s experiences. In each year, far fewer people said they agree that “most people’s experiences” were positive than said their own experiences were positive.
This year, 49% agree that their personal experiences have been mostly positive, but only 37% believe the same is true with most other people. Such differences have existed for each of the past three years.
There are likely two reasons for this difference. For some, the notion that interactions with government are tedious and challenging is so ingrained that they believe such difficulty is common even if their own experiences counter-act that view.
Others might view types of interactions common for certain groups of people as difficult even if they do not experience those interactions themselves. For example, some Americans might view the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in some cities as problematic even if they do not live in those areas themselves.
People who follow news more closely tend to trust government more
While partisanship and direct interactions are major factors, there are other conditions that may further impact trust. For the past two years, the Partnership asked respondents about their level of attention to news about politics and government. There appears to be a connection between those who say they follow the news more closely and those who trust the government more.
Now, 30% of those who say they follow the news closely also say they trust the federal government. Only 17% of those who say they follow news “not very closely” or “not closely at all” trust the government. In 2025, the discrepancy between those two groups was even greater.
This trend does not seem to be a result of partisan differences. In both years, the percentage of Republicans and Democrats who say they follow news closely was between 80% and 85%.
While trust is low among both groups, this finding suggests that those who are more up to date on current events are somewhat more likely to view the government positively.
Changes in trust in the federal government correspond with trust in state and local governments
There is significant research demonstrating that state and local governments are perceived more positively than the federal government. Partnership surveys have found the same thing. However, a comparison of trust among the levels of government shows an interesting trend.
Since 2022, views of the three levels of government have moved in conjunction with each other. While the sequence has not shifted, trust in the different levels has changed by virtually the same amount each year.
For example, trust in the federal government declined by six percentage points over the past year. During the same time, trust in local government declined by seven percentage points and trust in state government declined by four percentage points.
The reasons for this pattern are not obvious. However, the trend suggests that whatever events or factors are changing the public’s views are doing so for all levels of government. When trust in government goes up, all levels see a similar increase.
Civil servants are perceived differently than government and perceptions have improved in recent years
Even though the federal government as a whole is perceived negatively, views of civil servants are generally more positive.
In fact, some opinions of the federal workforce have actually improved over the past few years despite repeated criticism by the current administration. These attacks may have had an unintended effect as civil servants received the highest level of support by some measures since the Partnership started conducting yearly surveys in 2021.
Civil servants are trusted more than the federal government as a whole
For each of the last four years, at least 42% of the public said they trust civil servants. While not a particularly high level, it is greater than the trust given to the federal government overall.
As is the case for so much of public opinion about government, the views of Republicans and Democrats have been moving in different directions in recent years.
While Democrats have been more trusting of civil servants throughout this period, their level of trust declined significantly from 65% in 2025 to 49% in 2026. Trust of civil servants by Republicans increased slightly from 34% in 2024—Biden’s last year in office—to 46% now.
The improvement among Republicans may be tied to their more positive views of the government overall when a Republican is president. Since Republicans are more likely to see the current administration’s cuts to government as positive, they may also believe the Trump administration mostly cut problematic or ineffective government workers, and therefore see the remaining civil servants more favorably.
It could also have to do with the attempts by the Trump administration to infuse loyalty and political alignment into the hiring process. The administration has created a new employment category, Schedule Policy/Career, that eliminates due process protections for federal workers transferred into the classification and allows for at-will dismissals.
Civil servants are perceived as committed
Now, 61% of Americans agree that civil servants “are committed to helping people like me,” up slightly from 56% last year and 50% in 2021.
The increase was particularly notable among Republicans—who increased from 52% last year to 63% now—and independents, who increased from 31% to 48%.
In fact, the view that civil servants are committed workers has risen in each of the last four years the Partnership has conducted surveys. Now, 61% agree with that notion—15 percentage points higher than in 2022.
Civil servants are seen as competent
Since 2021, far more people agreed that civil servants are competent than disagreed—often by a ratio of more than two-to-one.
Now, that number is the highest it has been since the Partnership started the yearly surveys. Almost two-thirds of Americans agree that civil servants are competent (65%), up from 57% one year ago.
Throughout this period, Democrats have been more likely to see civil servants as competent than Republicans and independents.
Yet even a majority of Republicans agree with this notion. More than half of Republicans agreed civil servants are competent in four of the five surveys conducted by the Partnership. The percent of Republicans who agree has increased each of the last two years, from 47% in 2024 to 61% now.
Why the image of civil servants seems to be improving
One possible explanation for this trend is that news coverage of DOGE and the Trump administration’s efforts to cut the workforce—which was especially prevalent in 2025—gave the American people greater insight into the important activities of many federal employees they did not have before.
Some Americans might perceive that the Trump administration’s workforce cuts and reforms were effective in removing poor performing civil servants and the remaining employees are perceived to be more skilled and effective.
It may also be that Americans are noticing how the arbitrary cuts are negatively impacting communities around the country, thus giving the public a greater appreciation for the current workforce. For example, the staff cutbacks at the Social Security Administration increased wait times for callers and led to a large backlog of cases. Cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs have delayed health care services for veterans. And reductions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have hindered tracking the parasite cyclospora outbreak in July.
Regardless of the reasons, views of civil servants are more positive now than any of the previous few years. Whether that trend continues will probably depend on how the Trump administration continues its efforts to change the federal workforce and how much competence and experience are valued.
Conclusion
This year marks both the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the 25th anniversary of the Partnership for Public Service. The Partnership has worked to strengthen the federal government in many ways, guided by the view that a government is only effective if it is answering to the public and meeting their needs.
Negative views and low trust in government are long-standing problems that did not start with the current administration. But they are being exacerbated by the Trump administration’s arbitrary transformations that include slashing the federal workforce, unilaterally dismantling agencies and eliminating critical programs and services.
The persistence of negative views that the government is corrupt and wasteful is a trend that warrants urgent attention. Regardless of which party controls the White House or Congress, the federal government must commit to reform and improvement to be more accountable to the people it serves.
The Partnership is working to help define concrete reforms with its Government for a New Era initiative that is focused on developing plans to improve the management of our government. While recent chaotic management has exacerbated many problems, the government must face its long-standing problems and be forward-looking to improve public trust and adapt to changing times.
Methodology
The results in this report come from nationally representative surveys conducted by the Partnership for Public Service in conjunction with Impact Research. Beginning in 2021, the Partnership conducted surveys on a yearly basis with the exception of 2023. Not all questions were asked in all surveys.
The most recent survey results come from a nationally representative poll of 1,000 randomly sampled U.S. adults conducted by the Partnership and Impact Research from March 31-April 5, 2026. This period was about one month into the Iran war and during a partial government shutdown. Responses were weighted to match the demographics of the U.S. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish, and the margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points.
The questions regarding trust for the federal government and civil servants were asked on a scale of 0 to 10, based on the method used by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. “Do not trust” includes answers from 0 to 4. “Neutral” includes answers of 5. “Trust” includes answers from 6 to 10.
Appendix
Project Team
Bob Cohen
Senior Writer and Editor
Samantha Donaldson
Vice President, Communications and Public Engagement
Paul Hitlin
Senior Research Manager, Communications
Lindsay Laferriere
Director, Public Engagement
Georgeann McLemore
Associate Graphic Designer
Audrey Pfund
Creative and Digital Communications Director
Hannah Sobran
Research Associate and Wellde Fellow