This year’s Fourth of July marching-band shows begin with what might sound, at first listen, like a sour note: It was reported this week that Americans’ confidence in the U.S. government has fallen to new lows.
According to a Gallup poll, the number of people who say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in Congress is down to 7 percent, the lowest ever. The corresponding figure for the presidency is 29 percent, the lowest since the economic crisis at the end of the George W. Bush administration. The negative feelings extend to the U.S. Supreme Court, with an all-time-worst 30 percent expressing faith in the nation’s highest legal authority.
Going into the day we celebrate the United States’ greatness, the shaky confidence in the nation’s leadership certainly makes you think.
But what to think? Should Americans share the conclusion of Gallup’s own report that Congress’ low rating is “a challenge to the broad underpinnings of the nation’s representative democratic system”? Or does this seeming bad news really say something profoundly good about the nation, indicating that the most important institution of all — the American public — is alive and kicking?
This editorial board takes the latter view, the optimistic view, and for good reasons.
The nation and the government are not synonymous. Flagging confidence in elected and appointed officials in Washington, D.C., is not the same as a loss of belief in the United States, and disgust with the performance of elected and appointed officials does not indicate disapproval of our system of government.
In fact, skepticism about the nation’s institutions is healthy, a grand American tradition. It’s why the Constitution is as much about limiting the powers of government as about spelling them out.
Lest anyone think the hand-wringing over government approval ratings is new, it’s worth referring to a report by eminent political scientists noting “concern over the declining confidence in the American public in their political, social and economic institutions and leaders.” The report was published in 1983; it tracks the decline to the 1960s.
Gallup has been conducting these polls for decades. There has never been a time when they showed Americans to be in love with their government.
Often that just means — good news — the public is paying attention. Disdain for the White House and Congress is justified when they can’t work together to serve the needs of the nation. Disdain for the Supreme Court is understandable, considering its job often is to deliver the bad news that a popular new law is unconstitutional. (The press, also in the business of telling people things they don’t want to hear, can relate; confidence in newspapers is 22 percent, and Internet and TV news rate even lower.)
The public’s skepticism about government isn’t a bad thing unless it turns into cynicism. When confidence in the government goes from low to lower, some politicians will claim the very existence of the nation is at stake. They miss the point: The public’s sensitive BS meter is the reason the nation will always survive its leaders.