---
title: "As Americans head to the polls, state and local governments viewed favorably"
description: "More than half of Americans express a favorable view of their state government."
date: "2013-11-05"
authors:
  - name: "George Gao"
    job_title: "Former "
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/george-gao/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/11/05/as-americans-head-to-the-polls-state-and-local-governments-viewed-favorably/"
categories:
  - "Federal Government"
  - "State & Local Government"
  - "U.S. Elections & Voters"
---

# As Americans head to the polls, state and local governments viewed favorably

Voters in New Jersey and Virginia head to the polls today to elect a governor, several states consider ballot measures and many cities choose a mayor. While state and local off-year elections draw less media attention than presidential or congressional elections, [Americans look on their state and local governments more favorably than they do the federal government](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/04/15/state-govermnents-viewed-favorably-as-federal-rating-hits-new-low/), according to an April Pew Research Center report.

[![](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/04/4-15-13-1.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/04/15/state-govermnents-viewed-favorably-as-federal-rating-hits-new-low/)

The share of Americans with a positive view of the federal government fell to 28% in April, five points lower than the previous year, while public favorability of state government ticked up five points to 57%. Fully 41% of Democrats held favorable views of the federal government, compared with only 13% of Republicans. By contrast, state and local governments are viewed favorably across party lines: 56% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans said they had a favorable opinion of their state government. But the partisan makeup of the state government matters: Republicans give more positive ratings to GOP-led state governments, while Democrats rate Democratic-led state governments more highly.

[![](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/04/4-15-13-2.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/04/15/state-govermnents-viewed-favorably-as-federal-rating-hits-new-low/)

Similarly, local governments also received positive ratings, with 67% of Democrats and 63% of Republicans seeing them favorably.

In another measure of views of Washington, a survey conducted just before the Oct. 16 agreement to end the government shutdown showed that [public trust in the federal government](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/10/18/trust-in-government-nears-record-low-but-most-federal-agencies-are-viewed-favorably/) to do what is right just about always or most of the time fell to 19%, down seven points since January.