Why are Americans increasingly distrusting their own governments?

Source: China Radio and Television Corporation International Online

EDIT: Yin Liang

Edelman, the world's largest public relations consulting company, released the 2022 "Edelman Trust Barometer" report on the 18th, showing that the public trust of the US government fell to a new low. On the first anniversary of the current US administration, AFP summed it up with "domestic and foreign difficulties and complaints", which corroborated with Edelman's findings: The US government is facing a serious crisis of confidence.

Since 2000, Edelman has published an annual survey on the trust of governments around the world. According to a survey of more than 36,000 people in 28 countries from November 1 to 24 last year, chinese people's trust in the government reached 91 percent, the highest level in a decade, while the American people's trust in the government fell to 39 percent.

The level of governance of a government is a touchstone for the trust of the people. The credibility of the US government has fallen to a new low, behind which is the outbreak and spread of chaos in the United States. Among them, the failure to fight the epidemic is obviously the first to bear the brunt.

According to the statistics released by Johns Hopkins University on the 17th, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the United States exceeded 65 million, and the cumulative number of deaths exceeded 850,000, ranking first in the world. From the very beginning, the "politicization of the fight against the epidemic" has enveloped the anti-epidemic process in the United States, resulting in the loss of fresh lives one by one. When the right to life and the right to health are seriously violated, how can the American people trust the government?

Under the epidemic, the political differences and power struggles in the United States have intensified, social divisions have intensified, and the gap between rich and poor has been even more shocking. According to data released by the Federal Reserve last October, the richest 10% of the people in the United States own 89% of the stocks and funds in the United States, a record high; the top 1% of the "super-rich" in the United States have more wealth than the middle class combined, the first time since the United States had statistics. At the same time, polls released by Harvard University and other institutions show that 40% of American families have serious financial difficulties, and about 1/5 of households have used up all their savings. The Wall Street Journal recently pointed out that the surge in new crown pneumonia cases caused by the Opmi kerong mutation strain and high inflation have hit the confidence of Americans.

In addition, some politicians in the United States have politicized the epidemic and repeatedly made racist remarks in public, resulting in increasing racial discrimination and hate crimes. On the 15th, an Asian woman was pushed off the platform of a New York subway station and died on the spot. According to statistics, there were more than 500 hate crimes in New York last year, of which hate crimes against Asians increased the most.

From the failure of the fight against the epidemic to political polarization, from the division between the rich and the poor to racial discrimination, so many chaos and contradictions have erupted in a concentrated manner, making Americans more and more anxious, and their trust in the government is inevitable. CNN notes that over the past year, the U.S. government's approach to the problem has been increasingly questioned.

January 20 marks the first anniversary of the current U.S. administration. Edelman's global trust findings are a wake-up call. American politicians really want to think about why trust has fallen endlessly, and they should really listen to the voices of the American people. Popular trust is the foundation of a country's prosperity. American politicians in a crisis of trust, it is time to wake up! (International Sharp Review Commentator)