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CIVIC
AND POLITICAL LIFE: TRUST IN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Many Orange County residents are distrustful of the government in Washington. Fewer than one in three believes the federal government can be trusted to do what is right "always" or "most of the time." More than half think the federal government wastes a lot of the taxpayer's money. Nearly two-thirds perceive the government as being run by a few big interests. More than half feel that people like themselves don't have any say in government. And fewer than a third think elections make the government pay "a good deal" of attention to what the people think. Orange County residents are less likely than the nation as a whole to say the federal government can be trusted always or most of the time (28% to 39%), and that elections make the government pay a good deal of attention to what the people think (30% to 46%). They are more likely than the nation to believe that people like themselves have no say in government (56% to 40%). These differences are not the result of a more Republican profile in Orange County—local Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike are all more leery than the nation on each of these three measures of government distrust. Latinos have more trust in the federal government than do non-Hispanic whites. Latinos are less likely than non-Hispanic whites to think the government is run by a few big interests (41% to 70%), that it wastes a lot of money (37% to 60%), and that people like themselves have no say in government (47% to 59%). Latinos are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to believe the federal government can usually be trusted (41% to 25%), and that elections make the government pay significant attention to what the people think (34% to 28%).
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