For no particular reason I got interested today in our long decline of trust in major institutions. Which party has seen the biggest decline in trust, Democrats or Republicans?
That depends on the institution. But what if you took the average level of confidence in all institutions? Here it is for the forty years between 1978-2018:
Surprise! Overall confidence is the same for both parties and the trendline is quite stable. But now let's tack on a few years at the beginning and end:
Average confidence has dropped from 35% to 15%, but all of the decline is concentrated in the post-Watergate era and the Trump era—and about equally for both parties. In other words, our decline in confidence isn't just a general malaise that's played out over the years. It takes specific events to trigger it.
NOTE: The charts show average trust in all institutions surveyed by the GSS. These include big business, organized religion, the military, education, all three branches of government, banks, organized labor, medicine, the press, the scientific community, and television.
Republican President
Proven Lying Criminal
Public Confidence Drops 10%
Absolutely Nobody Surprised
See story page A23
It may be more informative to break down the results by separate institutions rather than lump them all together.
And by region.
Is the Establishment Press an institution? Over time, its power has greatly diminished. No longer is it the Big Three's nightly news, or national newsweekly magazines, or big city newspapers that inform (and to an extent guide) the public. You had to be around then to appreciate how limited the reach was of alternative views. The Internet and cable has changed all that.
Without the institution of the establishment press, people will get their (mis)information elsewhere, and much of *that* is devoted to reducing confidence in institutions (FBI, CDC).
"In other words, our decline in confidence isn't just a general malaise that's played out over the years. It takes specific events to trigger it."
...yes? People have lost confidence in institutions due to those institutions' actions (or failure to act) proving we should have less confidence in them. If those institutions actually behaved in a manner worthy of esteem or public trust when confronted with scandals people might feel differently about them. Instead the rot is almost always worse than people imagined and so they respond to that revelation
Thanks Obama.
Three major TV networks each devoting an hour of time now on the Super Tuesday vote. In effect, each a hour long Trump infomercial with constant pop-up graphics showing "Trump winner".
Haley is doing a great service to Trump.
And describing in bated breath the uncommitted Democratic vote. Imagine what they’d be saying if Biden lost one of the primaries. Or if he routinely got less than 80%. Yet with those things happening with Trump all they can talk about is Trump’s big victories.
Why wouldn't some people lose confidence in government institutions when one party has been bombarding them with claims that government is an oppressor? Of course many lower-income white people tend to regard government as an oppressor because it is trying to deprive them of the ability to practice racial and religious superiority. This has been the case only starting in the second half of the 20th century.
When the Fairness Doctrine went by the board, the right got a magnified voice in the media. The MSM were and are somewhat leftish in "social" matters, but distinctly rightish economically, so this is not really a matter of balancing a highly biased "liberal" media. So of course Republican voters are taught to despise the MSM, while the character of the right-wing media is obvious to those not devoted to Republican politics.
After a long period of Democratic Presidents the Supreme Court was in fact distinctly liberal and so lost respect with the right. Then as the appointees of Republican Presidents countered this with more biased decisions in the other direction (and blatant corruption) naturally the Court lost respect with the left.
We can certainly identify some specific important events in this continuous long process, but it has really been a result of the way that Republicans have used racial and religious division to attain and keep power since the Civil Rights Era.
Organized religion is an institution which I no longer trust. As a child, I was Catholic. As a teenager, I was becoming skeptical but tolerant. As an adult, I consider them the enemy. But I don’t think of organized religion as an “institution”. I’m not sure that term has any useful meaning in a poll question. It’s like asking about civilization.
Justin wrote "... It’s like asking about civilization."
Well, as Gandhi is supposed to have answered in response to the question, “What do you think of Western civilization?”
“I think it would be a good idea.”
So, confidence is stable by default and unstable by exception. A system is stable by default and unstable by exception.
But my point is that it also takes specific events to trigger an improvement. By default, the effect of a change is decline, and by exception the effect of a change is an improvement.
Change happens. So, we're either discovering changes that result in an improvement, or we're sleepwalking into a decline.
I'm not sure why Drum thinks 2018 to 2022 is in the "Trump era." Trust in institutions fell because of the widely supported by Democrats lockdowns, mask mandates and vaccine mandates - a complete failure in which the lockdowns caused great harm and the worthless masks caused unnecessary fear. The vaccine mandates for an experimental drug violated the Nuremburg Code.
We also know that the Biden administration was violating the First Amendment by pressuring Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to block what it didn't like online.
Trust is about to drop further.
Comparing President Biden to former President Donald is like comparing an MD to the pusher man. If you want to be told what you need to hear to be healthy enough to take care of yourself so you can take care of your family, call an MD. If you want to feel good right now, call the pusher man.
Translation: if you support former President Donald, follow the 12-step program.
What is the color of the sky in your world?
Shit-colored, I would imagine.