According to a Pew poll released Sunday night, trust in the federal government to do the “right thing” most of the time has fallen to a near all-time low of 22 percent. In its report on the poll, the Los Angeles Times notes that a comparable level of public skepticism has been reached only twice in the past — from 1992 to 1995 (reaching a low of 17 percent trusting in government in the summer of 1994) and from 1978 to 1980 (bottoming out at 25 percent in 1980). Trust in government was never this low during the presidency of George W. Bush.
If the results of the elections that correspond with the previous low-water marks — 1980 and 1994 — are any guide, the Democrats can expect an electoral debacle in November.
At the Crime and Consequences blog, Bill Otis considers the implications for criminal law of this level of distrust of government, and points to some of law-related decisions of the Obama administration that likely contributed to the distrust.
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“Arise and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.” Winston Churchill
“Proclaim Liberty throughout All the land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.” Inscription on the Liberty Bell
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