For the past seven years, a period covering the final two years of the Bush administration and President Obama’s first term, no more than about three-in-ten Americans have said they trust the federal government to do the right thing always or most of the time.

Our Jan. 2013 survey found only 26% saying they can trust government always or most of the time, while 73% say they can trust the government only some of the time or never. Majorities across all partisan and demographic groups express little or no trust in government. However, there are disparities: more than twice as many Hispanics as whites 44% vs. 20%) trust the federal government, and more blacks (38%) than whites trust the government. People younger than 30 have more trust in government than do older people. And far more Democrats (38%) than independents (21%) or Republicans (15%) say they can trust the government at least most of the time.

A majority of Americans also say the federal government is a threat to their personal rights and freedoms.

In the January 2013 survey,  76% of conservative Republicans regard the government as a threat to their personal rights and freedoms and 54% consider the government to be a “major” threat, an increase over three years ago when 62% of them described it as a threat to their freedom and 47% said it was a “major” threat. By comparison, there is little change in opinion among Democrats; 38% say the government poses a threat to their personal freedoms and 16% view it as “major.”

Fewer Americans have a favorable view of the federal government, with the biggest decline in recent years coming among Democrats.

Since Barack Obama’s first year in office, favorable assessments of the federal government dropped 14 points, according to our March 2013 survey. For the first time since Obama became president, more Democrats say they have an unfavorable view of the federal government in Washington than a favorable view (51% unfavorable vs. 41% favorable).

The more negative view of the federal government has resulted in a growing gap between how Americans see Washington as compared to their state and local governments.

Ten years ago, roughly two-thirds of Americans offered favorable assessments of all three levels of government: federal, state and local. But in a survey conducted March 2013,public views of the federal government in Washington have fallen to a new low, while the public continues to see their state and local governments in a favorable light.

In the 2012 Values survey, 69% of Americans said the federal government should only run things that cannot be done at the local level.

Government Role

While many Americans may oppose a range of cuts in specific government programs, the public overall favors smaller government providing fewer services than a bigger government providing more services.

Currently, Americans say by a 56 to 35% margin that they prefer a smaller government providing fewer services than a bigger one, according to our Sept. 2012 survey. These opinions have changed little over the course of Barack Obama’s presidency, although the margin did narrow in 2008. There was a substantial partisan divide on this question: 87% of Republicans favored the smaller government option compared to 28% of Democrats. Conversely, Democrats preferred bigger government over a smaller one by a 60% to 11% margin over Republicans. Independents favored a smaller government over a bigger one by 65% to 27%.  

The trend in public opinion favoring a smaller role for government is reflected in declining support for the social safety net.

While a majority of Americans has consistently agreed it is the responsibility of government to take care of people who can’t take care of themselves, this has slipped to 59% from 63% in 2009 and 69% in 2007, according to our Values Study conducted in April 2012.

Since 2007, Republican support for the safety net has declined significantly even as Democrats continue to support government aid to the poor and needy as they have over the last 25 years. As a result, the current party gap is now larger than ever.

Government regulation of business has become one of the nation’s most politically divisive issues.

In nearly every political values survey since 1987, majorities have agreed that “government regulation of business usually does more harm than good.” Partisan differences on this measure were far greater in 2012 than they were in 2007, the final year of George Bush’s presidency. About three-quarters (76%) of Republicans said that government regulation of business did more harm than good, among the highest ever. Just 41% of Democrats agreed, one of their lowest percentages ever.

Branches of Government

Americans have a highly negative view of Congress.

Opinions about Congress remain very negative, according to our Jan. 2013 survey:  just 23% offer a favorable opinion while 68% express and unfavorable view.In 2009, 50% of the public regarded Congress favorably and, between 1985 and 2005, Congress was viewed more favorably than unfavorably.  Virtually identical majorities of Republicans (58%), Democrats (57%) and independents (56%) put the blame on members of Congress, not the political system.

Unfavorable views of the Supreme Court are close to an all-time low.

A survey conducted March 2013 found that 52% viewed the court favorably while 31% regarded it unfavorably. Republicans’ views of the court, which tumbled 18 points following the court’s ruling last year on the health care law, have rebounded somewhat. Nearly half of Republicans (47%) have a favorable opinion of the Supreme Court, up from 38% last July, but still lower than the 56% who viewed the court positively prior to its decision on the health care law. By contrast, Democrats’ impressions of the court have slipped since last July, from 64% to 56%.

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In general, the drone strikes against terrorists abroad are supported by a majority of Americans but they draw widespread opposition in most other countries surveyed.

In a Pew Research Center survey conducted Feb. 7-10, 56% of Americans said they approved of the U.S. conducting missile strikes from drones “to target extremists in countries such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.” About a quarter (26%) of the public disapproved.

However, as some in Congress press the White House to be more transparent about the drone program — just as senators did during Brennan’s confirmation hearings on Feb. 7 — 31% of those surveyed said they were very concerned about whether the drone strikes were being conducted legally. Among those who disapprove of U.S. drone strikes, the number of those very concerned about their legality was 52%.

Questions about the legality of the drone strikes arose after the 2011 drone killing of Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awaki, a leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an American citizen born and raised in the U.S. The White House has since made public its legal justification for targeting of an American citizen who posed “an imminent threat of violent attack” against the U.S.

Paul, as well as Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, have pressed further, asking about the potential for targeting an American citizen on U.S. soil. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a March 4 letter that such an action would be “hypothetical, unlikely to occur” but might happen in an “extraordinary circumstance” after an attack on the scale of Pearl Harbor or 9/11.

Pew Research has not polled on the question of use of drones against an American target on U.S. soil, either in foreign countries or in the United States. But a Fox News poll conducted Feb. 25-27, found that 50% opposed using drones to kill a suspected terrorist who is a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil while 45% approved. Asked if the president, “on his own,” should be able to authorize such a strike against a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, 63% answered no while 32% said he should be able to do so.

The Fox News poll also found that a majority (74%) approved of using drones to kill a suspected terrorist in a foreign country and 60% approved of using drones to kill a suspected terrorist in a foreign country “if the suspect is a U.S. citizen.” And 56% approved of the use of drones to kill a suspected foreign terrorist in this country.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll, conducted Feb. 1-4, 2012, found that 83% of Americans supported the use of the drone strikes overseas, and among those supporters, 79%  also approved their use against American citizens in other countries if they were identified as suspected terrorists.

Aside from the legality issue, the Pew Research survey in February found that 53% said they were very concerned about whether drone strikes put the lives of civilians in danger. Even among those who approve of the program, 42% said they were very concerned the attacks risk lives of innocent civilians.

Among those who disapproved of U.S. drone attacks, nearly eight-in-ten (79%) are very concerned about possible civilian casualties.

Other possible consequences from drone attacks spurred less public concern: 32% were very concerned they could lead to retaliation from extremist groups, and 26% worried they could damage America’s reputation around the world.

The support of the U.S. public for general use of drone strikes against suspected terrorists abroad stands in stark contrast to world opinion. Last spring, the Pew Research Center surveyed publics in 20 countries around the world, including the U.S., and found that in 17 of them, more than half disapproved of the U.S. conducting drone strikes to target extremists in places such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

The use of the drone strikes was particularly unpopular in majority Muslim nations, but it also faced disapproval in Europe and other regions as well.

Disapproval was strongest in Greece (90%), Egypt (89%), Jordan (85%), Turkey (81%), Spain (76%), Brazil (76%) and Japan (75%).

The only countries in the survey, aside from the U.S., where opposition to the drone campaigns was muted were Britain, where the public was almost evenly divided (44% approve, 47% disapprove) and India, where 32% approved and 21% disapproved, but nearly half (47%) had no opinion.