Released: January 31, 2013

Public Trust in Government: 1958-2013

As Barack Obama begins his second term in office, trust in federal government remains mired near a historic low and frustration with government remains high.

Explore public attitudes towards the federal government over time and compare the data with other key national indicators, such as consumer sentiment, the unemployment rate and changes within the elected leadership.

Sources: Pew Research Center, National Election Studies, Gallup, ABC/Washington Post, CBS/New York Times, and CNN Polls. From 1976-2010 the trend line represents a three-survey moving average. For party analysis, selected datasets obtained from searches of the iPOLL Databank provided by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut.

Explore more trends in our Data section.