Trust in the “men and women in political life in this country who either hold or are running for public office” has dropped to an all-time low of 49% this year, after bumping up to 66% in the middle of the 2008 presidential election campaign. At points in the 1970s, about two-thirds of Americans reported having a great deal or fair amount of trust in the men and women in politics, and this had never been below the majority level until now.

By contrast, there has been a consistently high level of trust in “the American people as a whole when it comes to making judgments under our democratic system about the issues facing our country” over the last several decades, albeit it with a slight downward drift in recent years. The current trust level of 73% is up slightly from a few years ago, but remains below the all-time high of 86% in 1976.