Public trust in government is at an all-time low, since the 1950s, according to recent Pew research:
Public trust in the government remains near historic lows. Only 19% of Americans today say they can trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (3%) or “most of the time” (16%)
But it is not just the government,as an institution, that the public no longer trusts, it seems to be most institutions. Of 14 institutions (government, military, Supreme Court, Congress, banks, big business, small business, medical system, public education, labor unions, etc.), the percentage of Americans who by and large trust these institutions has gone down because of the Great Recession and has not recovered (Gallup research)
And specific institutions have precipitously fallen out of favor since the Great Recession, as shown in the table below. Only the Military and Police have had greater than 50% strong confidence of the public and kept it, since 2006.
