A new survey finds 62 percent of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the federal government, while 33 percent have a favorable view.

That’s the lowest positive rating in 15 years, according to the survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

A decade ago, the opposite was true — two-thirds of Americans had a favorable opinion of federal government.

The survey was conducted April 4-15, 2012, in the days following the conference spending scandal at the General Services Administration and at the same time news broke of the Secret Service prostitution embarrassment.

“The overall decline in favorability toward the federal government in Washington is consistent with other views of government,” according to the report. “Recent Pew Research Center studies have shown overall public trust in government at or near all-time lows.”

The survey results showed favorability ratings differed based on political affiliations. While 51 percent of Democrats had a positive view of the federal government, only 20 percent of Republicans and 27 percent of independents gave federal government favorable ratings.

Pew also found a growing gap between Americans’ views of the federal government versus state and local governments. Fifty-two percent of Americans had a favorable rating for state governments and 61 percent for local governments.

RELATED STORIES

Full coverage of Shakeup at GSA

Probe deepens into Secret Service behavior

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.