Trust in government continues to decline

Public polling shows a continuing decline in Americans’ trust in government. There are obviously a lot of factors behind that – and a lot of noise in the data – but one indicator is the number of Americans who’d urge their kids to pursue a government career. It was 56% as recently as 2010. This year, it’s down to 39%. Federal Drive Deputy Editor Jared Serbu talked about this with Paul Light , a nonresident senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, and a professor of public service at NYU. For years, Light has tracked the data on what Americans want from government and how they feel about it.