Trust in government collapsed from 1966 to 1992

Evidence

Not coincidentally, Americans have also disengaged psychologically from politics and government over this era. The proportion of Americans who reply that they “trust the government in Washington” only “some of the time” or “almost never” has risen steadily from 30 percent in 1966 to 75 percent in 1992. — Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone, 24

Categorization

• XREF: This trust-trend data pairs with the turnout and membership declines Putnam surveys, forming the descriptive backbone of Bowling Alone. — connects to: Declining trust in government stems from increased knowledge, not worsened performance; Rising information about government behavior drives declining trust — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 733; Declining trust in government reflects trustworthiness, not citizen psychology — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 732 (+3 more)
• corroborated: 5 independent passages support this claim — Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: America’s Declining…, 24

Related

• Declining trust in government stems from increased knowledge, not worsened performance (similarity 0.90)
• Declining trust in government reflects trustworthiness, not citizen psychology (similarity 0.88)
• Declining governmental trust is a trustworthiness problem, not a trust problem (similarity 0.86)
• American social trust dropped sharply even after accounting for rising education (similarity 0.85)
• Declining trust follows from civic withdrawal, not just causes it (similarity 0.85)
• Distrust of government may follow rather than cause civic disengagement (similarity 0.84)
• Citizens cannot trust government because they lack knowledge of its trustworthiness (similarity 0.84)
• Past government abuse justifies wary distrust of any officials (similarity 0.83)
• Rising information about government behavior drives declining trust (similarity 0.82)
• Declining civic participation weakens officials’ trustworthiness, not just citizens’ trust (similarity 0.79)
• Declining social trust reflects generational succession, not individual change (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Declining trust in government stems from increased knowledge, not worsened performance #corroborates (0.85)
• Rising information about government behavior drives declining trust #corroborates (0.85) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 733
• Declining trust in government reflects trustworthiness, not citizen psychology #qualifies (0.80) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 732
• Governments cannot satisfy the encapsulated-interest account of trust. #qualifies (0.80)
• Declining governmental trust is a trustworthiness problem, not a trust problem #qualifies (0.80) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 746
• Citizens cannot trust government because they lack knowledge of its trustworthiness #qualifies (0.75)