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The Dynamics of Public Confidence in U.S. State and Local Government

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Jennifer Wolak  and
Christine Kelleher Palus
Jennifer Wolak
Affiliation:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Christine Kelleher Palus
Affiliation:
Villanova University
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Abstract

While the dynamics of trust in the national government have been shown to be responsive to political events and governmental performance, less is known about why the public's trust in U.S. state and local government rises and falls over time. We examine the trends in confidence in subnational government using an aggregate level approach. First, we consider whether levels of trust are defined by reactions to the national government. Second, we consider how factors specific to subnational politics such as governmental performance and the quality of community life influence trust. Using measures of confidence in state and local government from 1968 to 2004 and a set of error correction models, we find evidence for both accounts. Confidence in subnational governments reflects national trends such as economic tides and public preferences for more or less government, but also exhibits unique dynamics explained by factors specific to subnational politics.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , Winter 2010 , pp. 421 - 445
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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