Trust and local news
Residents trust local government more than their state government, though less than in 2018.
Part of Political Dynamics, one of the three shifts on What Changed.
What it means for the people a leader leads
Staff carry residents’ trust in person, at the counter, on the phone and in public meetings.
Trust in local government
Every reading since 1972, and a second publisher’s measure 1972 to 2025
How it moved, and the figures behind the chart
Local: 65% in 2025, against 72% in 2018; the lowest reading was 63% in 1972 and the highest 77% in 1998. Federal, a different question: 17% in 2025, against 77% in 1964.
Trust in local government was 65% in 2025, lower than 72% in 2018 and above 63% in 1972, the first year Gallup asked. Local government is trusted more than state government. The clearest change is in local news: fewer newspapers, fewer newspaper jobs, and fewer residents following local news very closely.
| Year | Local government | State government |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | 63% | 63% |
| 1974 | 71% | 75% |
| 1976 | 65% | 72% |
| 1997 | 69% | 68% |
| 1998 | 77% | 80% |
| 2001 | 69% | 65% |
| 2003 | 68% | 53% |
| 2004 | 68% | 67% |
| 2005 | 70% | 67% |
| 2007 | 69% | 67% |
| 2008 | 72% | 67% |
| 2009 | 69% | 51% |
| 2010 | 70% | 52% |
| 2011 | 68% | 57% |
| 2012 | 74% | 65% |
| 2013 | 71% | not asked |
| 2014 | 72% | 62% |
| 2015 | 70% | 58% |
| 2016 | 71% | 62% |
| 2017 | 70% | 63% |
| 2018 | 72% | 63% |
| 2019 | 71% | 63% |
| 2020 | 71% | 60% |
| 2021 | 66% | 57% |
| 2022 | 67% | 57% |
| 2023 | 67% | 59% |
| 2024 | 67% | 55% |
| 2025 | 65% | 59% |
Staff carry residents' trust in person, at the counter, on the phone and in public meetings.
Source: Gallup, a commercial polling firm, 2025; Pew Research Center
Federal, a different question: 17% in 2025, against 77% in 1964.
How it moved, and the figures behind the chart
Trust and confidence in each level of government; local and state from Gallup, federal from Pew’s compiled trend of polls
| Level | Lowest reading | Highest reading | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local | 63% in 1972 | 77% in 1998 | 65% |
| State | 51% in 2009 | 80% in 1998 | 59% |
| Federal | 10% in 2011 | 77% in 1964 | 17% |
trust in local government to handle local problems at every Gallup reading, among them 63% in 1972, 77% at the 1998 high, 72% in 2018 and 65% in September 2025
How it moved, and the figures behind the chart
65% in September 2025, 63% in 1972, 77% in 1998. A majority in both parties trusted local government in 2025: Democrats 79% and Republicans 61%.
Percent of U.S. adults with a great deal or a fair amount of trust and confidence, Gallup
| Year | Local government |
|---|---|
| 1972 | 63% |
| 1974 | 71% |
| 1976 | 65% |
| 1997 | 69% |
| 1998 | 77% |
| 2001 | 69% |
| 2003 | 68% |
| 2004 | 68% |
| 2005 | 70% |
| 2007 | 69% |
| 2008 | 72% |
| 2009 | 69% |
| 2010 | 70% |
| 2011 | 68% |
| 2012 | 74% |
| 2013 | 71% |
| 2014 | 72% |
| 2015 | 70% |
| 2016 | 71% |
| 2017 | 70% |
| 2018 | 72% |
| 2019 | 71% |
| 2020 | 71% |
| 2021 | 66% |
| 2022 | 67% |
| 2023 | 67% |
| 2024 | 67% |
| 2025 | 65% |
Pew Research Center, funded mainly by The Pew Charitable Trusts, found the same direction on a different question. In 2019, 69% of U.S. adults viewed their local government favorably, and 61% in December 2023, against 50% for their state government and 22% for the federal government. December 2023 is Pew’s newest reading. In September 2025, 17% of U.S. adults trusted the federal government to do what is right always or most of the time (Pew Research Center); that series is charted on the Political Dynamics page.
Local news
Close to 3,500 newspapers have stopped printing since 2005. In 2025, 212 U.S. counties had no local news source, and another 1,525 had only one. The count comes from the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University, which is supported by the Knight, MacArthur and Joyce foundations and others, including a newspaper publishers’ foundation. Those are levels with their year.
How it moved, and the figures behind the chart
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a federal agency, 2026It was 185,700 in January 2016 and 455,200 in January 1990, fewer in every January since 2006. The figure counts every newspaper job, not reporters alone.
All employees, newspaper publishers, not seasonally adjusted, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
| January | Employees |
|---|---|
| 1990 | 455,200 |
| 1991 | 449,700 |
| 1992 | 434,500 |
| 1993 | 432,000 |
| 1994 | 431,100 |
| 1995 | 431,200 |
| 1996 | 424,900 |
| 1997 | 421,300 |
| 1998 | 426,200 |
| 1999 | 424,300 |
| 2000 | 425,900 |
| 2001 | 420,500 |
| 2002 | 394,600 |
| 2003 | 385,900 |
| 2004 | 378,300 |
| 2005 | 370,700 |
| 2006 | 365,600 |
| 2007 | 354,000 |
| 2008 | 340,600 |
| 2009 | 299,900 |
| 2010 | 262,300 |
| 2011 | 248,200 |
| 2012 | 232,300 |
| 2013 | 220,000 |
| 2014 | 209,300 |
| 2015 | 199,000 |
| 2016 | 185,700 |
| 2017 | 171,700 |
| 2018 | 157,700 |
| 2019 | 140,200 |
| 2020 | 128,400 |
| 2021 | 109,000 |
| 2022 | 106,700 |
| 2023 | 99,000 |
| 2024 | 91,200 |
| 2025 | 86,600 |
| 2026 | 76,500 |
Who follows local news, and who trusts it: 21% follow it very closely; 70% trust it, against 56% for national news
It was 37% in 2016, 33% in 2017, 31% in 2018, 22% in 2024 and 23% in March 2025, on the same question each time; the 2016 survey also took some answers by mail and the 2025 surveys some by telephone. The measure counts adults who follow local news very closely, not whether they trust it.
The figures behind the chart
Source: Pew Research Center, with the Knight Foundation since 2024Percent of U.S. adults who follow local news very closely, Pew Research Center
| Period | Very closely |
|---|---|
| February 2016 | 37% |
| March 2017 | 33% |
| November 2018 | 31% |
| January 2024 | 22% |
| March 2025 | 23% |
| December 2025 | 21% |
How it moved, and the figures behind the chart
Local was 85% in 2017 and 71% in 2022, after readings of 74% and 80% in the year before; national was 77% in 2016.
Percent of U.S. adults with a lot or some trust in information from each, Pew Research Center
| Period | Local news | National news |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 82% | 77% |
| 2017 | 85% | 72% |
| 2018 | 83% | 70% |
| July 2019 | 86% | 75% |
| October 2019 | 78% | 66% |
| 2021 | 75% | 58% |
| 2022 | 71% | 61% |
| September 2024 | 74% | 58% |
| March 2025 | 80% | 67% |
| September 2025 | 70% | 56% |
Trust in the mass media, a different measure: 33% in September 2026
How it moved, and the figures behind the chart
A different measure from trust in local news. It was 53% in 1997 and 72% in 1976. Among Republicans it was 8% in 2025 and 22% in 2026.
Percent of U.S. adults with a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the mass media, Gallup; 1972 to 1976 readings in the series file
| Year | Trust |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 53% |
| 1998 | 55% |
| 1999 | 55% |
| 2000 | 51% |
| 2001 | 53% |
| 2002 | 54% |
| 2003 | 54% |
| 2004 | 44% |
| 2005 | 50% |
| 2007 | 47% |
| 2008 | 43% |
| 2009 | 45% |
| 2010 | 43% |
| 2011 | 44% |
| 2012 | 40% |
| 2013 | 44% |
| 2014 | 40% |
| 2015 | 40% |
| 2016 | 32% |
| 2017 | 41% |
| 2018 | 45% |
| 2019 | 41% |
| 2020 | 40% |
| 2021 | 36% |
| 2022 | 34% |
| 2023 | 32% |
| 2024 | 31% |
| 2025 | 28% |
| 2026 | 33% |
These series move together. No source here tests whether fewer local newspapers lower trust in local government.
Hostility toward local officials
In the first quarter of 2026, 54% of elected local officials on councils, commissions and school boards reported at least one form of hostility in the previous three months. 76% said they had pulled back from at least one civic activity because of it. About 1% reported ever being physically attacked (Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University, with CivicPulse, as reported in Governing). Those are levels from the newest quarter; the survey has run every quarter since August 2022, and its readings are high and steady. It does not show a rise.
30% in 2023, 38% in 2024 and 2025.
The figures behind the chart
Source: Brennan Center for Justice, Local Election Officials SurveyPercent of local election officials, Brennan Center for Justice
| Year | Share |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 17% |
| 2023 | 30% |
| 2024 | 38% |
| 2025 | 38% |
| 2026 | 32% |
Many local election officials are city or county staff, and others, elected or appointed, work beside them. A route to report threats, and to have reports acted on, is something local leaders can help strengthen with them.
Who answered, and who published it
Local election officials, a different group, answered a similar question for the Brennan Center for Justice, which campaigns on election administration and democracy reform. Its report names no funder. Both surveys reach elected and election officials. No national series measures hostility toward appointed managers or their staff.
How residents rate services
In a national survey run by ETC Institute, a firm that sells resident surveys to local governments, the share of residents satisfied with the overall quality of their city’s services was lower in 2025 than in 2010. The firm does not publish its national method, so this page gives the direction and not the size, and no chart is drawn from it. The data does not say why.
Gallup’s trust figure and Pew’s favorable rating, above, moved the same way from 2018 and 2019. They measure the institution, not its services. Lower satisfaction is not lower performance, and the national line is not a measure of any one city or county.
Three questions only the organization can answer
No national series measures any one city or county. These three questions are for a leadership team to answer about its own.
- Where do residents first hear about a decision the council or board has made, and who tells them?
- Which channels does the organization use to get its own story to residents, local reporters among them, and which of them does it know are working?
- When staff hear the same question from residents again and again, how does it reach the people who can answer it?
Further reading
Primary sources
- Gallup: Trust in Government Depends Upon Party Control (2025)
- Pew Research Center: Views of Federal, State and Local Government (2024)
- Pew Research Center: Public Trust in Government, 1958 to 2025
- Bridging Divides Initiative, Princeton University: Survey of Local Elected Officials, First Quarter 2026, as reported in Governing
- Brennan Center for Justice: Local Election Officials Survey (2026)
- Medill Local News Initiative: The State of Local News (2025)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Employees of Newspaper Publishers
- Pew Research Center: Local News Fact Sheet (December 2025)
- Pew Research Center: Trust in News Sources (2025)
- Gallup: Trust in News Media (2026)
- ETC Institute national resident survey, as published in a report to Round Rock, Texas (2010)
- ETC Institute national resident survey, as published in a report to Lenexa, Kansas (2025)