For decades pollsters have documented a decline in the public's trust of the federal government and in recent years there's been some slippage for state and local governments that historically fared much better than Washington.
What erodes voters' confidence is the suspicion their elected leaders are all too often acting in their self-interest and not theirs. Alarm bells start to go often when something that a president or governor says doesn't ring true. The wider the gap between what a politician says and reality, the deeper the cynicism becomes.
