• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. trust in government>

Young adults, particularly Black people, do not trust the government

David Meyers
April 13, 2022
people protesting

Young adults do not have faith in government or believe it represents them.

Rawpixel/Getty Images

Millennials and members of Generation Z have little faith in any level of government, and nearly half of young Black people do not feel like full citizens of the United States, according to new survey data.

Just one-quarter of adults ages 18-36 said they trust the federal government, including just 19 percent of Black people, with slightly more saying they trust state and local governments. Asian respondents said they had more trust (35 percent).

The survey – produced by the progressive think tank Next100 and GenFoward, which conducts surveys of young adults – found that 47 percent of young Black adults do not “feel like a full and equal citizen in this country with all the rights and protections that other people have.” No other racial or ethnic groups had a similar response, although one third of respondents with household incomes under $60,000 felt the same.


In addition, young Americans believe the federal and local governments do not care about them, regardless of race or income.

“We know that younger generations are the most diverse in American history. Our survey shows that, while the vast majority of young people feel disconnected from government, some groups feel more disconnected than others — namely, young Americans of color and those with lower incomes,” said Cathy Cohen, founder of GenForward. “If we are to have a government that is truly reflective of its people, it is incumbent upon our elected officials to heed the priorities and concerns of our young adults.”

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Less than one-fifth of young Americans believe leaders in the federal government “come from communities like mine.” Only Asian respondents (22 percent) and those with household incomes above $60,000 (23 percent) broke the 20 percent barrier on that question, although all groups felt somewhat more aligned with local government leaders (33 percent overall).

However, 62 percent of respondents to the survey (which was conducted Nov. 5-19, 2021, of 3,279 people, oversampling for minority respondents) said they would be more likely to trust government leaders if they came from “my community.”

“What these findings underscore is that proximity to policymaking matters,” said Emma Vadehra, executive director of Next100. “Building a government and policy sector that is reflective of the people it serves will help restore the trust needed to implement lasting policies that improve lives.”

The feelings among young Black people align with a new report from the National Urban League that says the the voting rights of Black and Brown people are under attack.

“[S]ince the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, the United States has seen a steady rise in disenfranchisement practices giving one party an edge over the other. But never before has the nation seen such an insidious and coordinated campaign to obliterate the very principle of ‘one person, one vote’ from the political process,” President and CEO Marc Morial wrote in the report. “It is, in every sense of the term, a plot to destroy democracy.”

Morial provides a timeline of voter suppression tactics that started after a rise in Black turnout contributed to Barack Obama’s election in 2008 through the Supreme Court striking “preclearance” from the Voting Rights Act to the “Big Lie” that followed Donald Trump’s loss in 2020.

The report identifies four tactics being used against Black and Brown people: racial gerrymandering, making it harder to vote, the “Stop the Steal” movement and threats against election officials.

From Your Site Articles
  • Young people aren't the problem with civic participation. We're the ... ›
  • Members of Gen Z say the government is letting them down - The ... ›
  • Parliamentary study shows path to regaining citizens' trust - The ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Trust in Government | Gallup Historical Trends ›
  • Want to restore trust in government? Start with customer experience ›
  • Public Trust in Government: 1958-2021 | Pew Research Center ›
  • Trust in Government - OECD ›
trust in government

Join an Upcoming Event

Leadership and Community Engagement Training

Urban Rural Action
May 31, 2022 at 12:00 pm CDT
Read More

Four Freedoms: Exploring Freedom from Fear, Session 4

Interactivity Foundation
Jun 08, 2022 at 1:00 pm EDT
Read More

Men’s UNITY Breakfast – Pine Island, TX

KINGDOM Group International
Jun 11, 2022 at 8:00 am CDT
Read More

GLOBAL: Patriotism, Nationalism and Globalism

The Great Reset
Jun 14, 2022 at 11:00 am CDT
Read More

Healing Conversations

Collaborative Solutions
Jun 14, 2022 at 1:00 pm EDT
Read More

Civic Learning Democratic Engagement (CLDE) Conference

AASCU
Jun 21, 2022 at 12:00 am CDT
Read More
View All Events
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

But what can I do?

Pedro Silva

Are large donor networks still needed to win in a fairer election system?

Paige Chan

Independent voters want to be heard. Is anybody listening?

David Thornburgh
John Opdycke

The U.S. has been seeking the center since the days of Teddy Roosevelt

Dave Anderson

Imperfection and perseverance

Jeff Clements

We’ve expanded the Supreme Court before. It’s time to do so again.

Anushka Sarkar
latest News

Biden follows Trump’s lead in expanding use of executive orders

Reya Kumar
9h

Podcast: 100% Democracy

Our Staff
21h

Americans want action on gun control, but the Senate can’t move forward

David Meyers
25 May

Podcast: Why conspiracy theories thrive in both democracies and autocracies

Our Staff
25 May

Nearly 20 states have restricted private funding of elections

David Meyers
24 May

Video: Will Trump run in 2024?

Our Staff
24 May
Videos

Video: Helping loved ones divided by politics

Our Staff

Video: What happened in Virginia?

Our Staff

Video: Infrastructure past, present, and future

Our Staff

Video: Beyond the headlines SCOTUS 2021 - 2022

Our Staff

Video: Should we even have a debt limit

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirstFriday Yap Politics

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Did economists move the Democrats to the right?

Our Staff
02 May

Podcast: The future of depolarization

Our Staff
11 February

Podcast: Sore losers are bad for democracy

Our Staff
20 January

Deconstructed Podcast from IVN

Our Staff
08 November 2021
Recommended
President Biden signs executive order on police reform

Biden follows Trump’s lead in expanding use of executive orders

Balance of Power
Podcast: 100% Democracy

Podcast: 100% Democracy

Leadership
people talking

But what can I do?

Leveraging big ideas
Shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas

Americans want action on gun control, but the Senate can’t move forward

Congress
Podcast: Why conspiracy theories thrive in both democracies and autocracies

Podcast: Why conspiracy theories thrive in both democracies and autocracies

Big Picture
First-ever majority-female New York city council

Are large donor networks still needed to win in a fairer election system?

Campaign Finance