Survey: Trust in US government plummets

Trust in the US government has plummeted among Americans amid the US spying crisis, budget woes and numerous problems with the new healthcare law known as Obamacare, according to a new survey.

Only 37 percent of college-educated adults say they trust US politicians, down 16 percent compared to the previous year, the survey by the Edelman Berland research firm found.

One reason for dramatic decline in Americans’ trust is due to the government’s inability to fix the economy, said Richard Edelman, head of US public relations firm Edelman, which commissioned the study.

“In 2008 and 2009, it was a case of government to the rescue and everybody said government saved the day. That raised expectations – but then you get crushed,” he told Reuters.

Confidence in President Barack Obama also has dropped in recent months following the budget impasse that led to a shutdown of the government in October, the crisis over spying revelations by former US contractor Edward Snowden and glitches in the new federal healthcare website.

“There is almost despair in some aspects of government. How does a computer system not work for healthcare? That is just a competence question,” Edelman said.

A Gallup poll on Wednesday also found that Americans’ confidence in the economy has slipped during the past two weeks.

“The recent dip in Americans’ economic confidence is likely related to the federal government reporting the weakest job growth in three years for the month of December and a declining unemployment rate, which possibly signals that disgruntled job seekers are dropping out of the labor force,” Gallup said.