Americans for Prosperity: A new survey shows the deep loss of trust in major U.S. institutions since start of pandemic
Some findings:
- 43 percent of Americans feel their protest rights are less secure; only 9 percent say they're more secure.
- 42 percent of Americans feel their ability to voice their opinion has diminished since the start of the pandemic; only 12 percent say their ability to voice their opinion has become more secure.
- More than one in three Americans feel their religious liberties are less secure; only 10 percent feel they're more secure.
- 49 percent of people said their trust in the CDC has gone way down or slightly down since the start of the pandemic.
- 41 percent of Americans said their trust in the Congress is "way down," and another 20 percent said that their trust in Congress has gone slightly down, for a total of 61 percent of Americans who indicated they have lost trust in the U.S. Congress since the beginning of the pandemic.
- 59 percent of Americans said public officials did a somewhat or very poor job of being transparent with the public about the information being used and the reasoning regarding any restrictions or requirements; while 28 percent said government officials did a somewhat or very good job, and 13 percent were unsure.
- Nearly six in ten Americans (58 percent) believe public officials did a poor job of seeking input from the public; only 22 percent said they did a somewhat or very good job and another 20 percent were not sure.
- 55 percent of Americans think officials have done a poor job reassessing any restrictions or requirements; 29 percent believe they did a good job.
- 52 percent of people said officials did a poor job keeping any restrictions or requirements as focused and narrow as possible, with 27 percent disagreeing and saying government officials did a good job.
- 52 percent of Americans also say officials did a poor job allowing sensible modifications to rules as opposed to having blanket bans on activities, while 30 percent of Americans think they did a good job.
- 54 percent of people said officials have done a somewhat or very poor job applying any restrictions or requirements equally to all people, while 31 percent of Americans think government officials did a good job with respect to applying COVID restrictions equally to all people.
"These results point to one conclusion: between one-half and two-thirds of the public believe that the pandemic response was an enormous flop, and that their own liberties are far less secure now than they were before. Further, none of it worked to achieve that goal. That is a devastating indictment on the biggest expansion of government power and control in our lifetimes, one that happened not only in the United States but almost everywhere in the world."
