A recent Pew Research poll has found that only 26 percent of Americans trust government to make the right decisions, 73 percent say they have little confidence in government. A majority (53 percent) also say government is a threat to Americans’ rights and freedoms. In fact this is the highest number Pew has found since first asking the question in 1995. …

Overall ratings of the federal government have declined since President Obama first took office, with the largest shift coming from Democrats. In 2009, 61 percent of Democrats gave the federal government favorable ratings, but that number has shrunk to 51 percent, Independents have declined from 35 percent favorable to 27 percent. Republican favorability has hovered around a quarter.