Fewer Americans than ever trust govt. to handle problems: Gallup

The trust and confidence of the American public over their federal government’s ability to deal with international and domestic problems has hit a record low, a new poll reflects.

Gallup’s annual Governance survey shows that just 49 percent of Americans say they have confidence in the federal government’s ability to handle international problems, an all-time low.

The previous record low figure stood at 51% in 2007 during the tenure of former US president George W. Bush.

Americans in the same survey also expressed historically low levels of confidence in the federal government’s ability to handle domestic problems.

Only 42 percent of people in the survey reported such confidence, one point below the previous low of 43% in 2011.

Americans’ confidence in the federal government on domestic and international issues has trended downward throughout the 2000s and has sunk to several new lows since 2010.

According to a Pew Research poll released earlier this year, nearly three-quarters of Americans said they only sometimes or never trust the federal government to do the right thing.

Polls indicate that Americans also remain highly critical of the job Congress is doing.

Congress’ approval rating is currently at 19 percent, well below the historical average of 33% since Gallup began asking the question in 1974.