April 4, 2014

"Illinois Residents Least Trusting of Their State Government/North Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah rank at the top."

A Gallup poll.
In general, trust is lower in more populous states than in less populous states. The 10 most populous states and 10 least populous states differ by 11 percentage points in state government trust, with the middle population states in between. Larger states have larger economies and more citizens needing services, and often more diverse populations, so they may be more challenging to govern than smaller states.

25 comments:

Will said...

Let's elect more statewide Illinois politicians to national office!

Will said...

Let's elect more Illinois politicians to national office!

Austin said...

Interesting that Althouse observes the fact that a more diverse population is more difficult to govern. John Jay felt the same way. Not that it isn't obvious.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Wow I am unable to understand this.

Texas has fewer folks than Tennesee?

Or Texas doesn't lean GOP?


"The most populous solid or leaning Republican state is Tennessee, which ranks 17th in population size."

And Rhode Island, Maine, and Maryland are comsidered high population States?

Sounds like BS to help minimize the GOP/Dem split.

Wilbur said...

I got out of Illinois, my birthplace and home, 28 years ago and moved to Miami.

I haven't regretted it for one second. It was evident even then that Illinois was going down the tubes.

Big Mike said...

Glad they wrote "in general," because no one would regard Maine (41st in population) and Rhode Island (43rd) as "populous," whereas Texas is second in population only to California.

Less obvious, the states where people have little trust in government have one party government and that party is the Democrats (Maine is the exception). Notice that even states with one party government score high in trust when that party is the Republicans.

I wonder why that is?

Ann Althouse said...

"Interesting that Althouse observes..."

I'm just quoting Gallup's analysis.

I don't necessarily endorse something when I quote it.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Okay 6.5 million in TN and 26.5 million folks in TX so they conclude TX doesn't lean GOP.

Austin said...

K.

chuck said...

more challenging to govern

Or maybe they offer more opportunities for corruption and government control.

Jupiter said...

"Larger states have larger economies and more citizens needing services".

Yeah, citizens need services.

Hey man, can you spare a buck? I need me some services.

ALP said...

"...and often more diverse populations, so they may be more challenging to govern than smaller states."
******************
Wow. You know what needs to happen next - the person that wrote that summary at Gallup must be hunted down and fired. We can't have these pollsters speculating that diversity is anything less than utopia. In fact, the writer should be punished for merely putting "diversity" and "challenging" in the same sentence.

JackWayne said...

Because this poll says Texas is an outlier, this poll is complete crap.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

I am going to be charitable here, and suggest that forgetting TX was just a brain-fart. No other option suggests itself.

Abdul Abulbul Amir said...


The bigger the state budget the greater the opportunities for graft.

Wince said...

I question the methodology.

In a four choice poll question, usually two answers imply over 50% satisfied and two below 50% satisfied.

In this pool, however, after trust "a great deal", I would say the next prompt, "fair amount" (rather than "mostly"), would imply trust less than 50% of the time, and therefore its closer to the lower half of the scale of "not very much" and "not at all".

Under these prompts, I really think you can only look at "trust a great deal" to gauge those who are satisfied more than 50%. And this numbers are mostly abysmal.

Steven said...

Yeah, obvious spin there about state size and diversity, when Texas is #6 in trust.

Strelnikov said...

At last, something we can be proud of. And, hey, maybe the first time in 20 years that I'm in the majority. Things are looking up!

Just kidding about that last part. The "distrusting" public will vote the same goons back in at first chance. This state is also numero uno in the "Vote the bums out, but not my bum" category.

Sam L. said...

Illinois has an ill reputation, well established.

Deirdre Mundy said...

I noticed that states where the population tends to be more pro-federalism also ranked higher for satisfaction with state and local government.

So, if your local and state government is good, it's a pain when the feds interfere. If your state Govt. is the Chicago Machine, the IRS looks like a troop of Boy Scouts in comparison.

gadfly said...

Not everyone agrees with the high rating for North Dakota - high wages, low unemployment and incredible economic growth upsets some locals because infrastructure growth is not keeping pace.

Trashhauler said...

I've played golf all my life, but I've never bought a copy of Golf Digest. The only time I read it is in the dentist waiting room.

But I gotta ask, what is the gender of the typical Golf Digest reader? I'd bet male.

Given my current state of permanent decrepitude, the average LPGA pro outdrives me by thirty yards, hits longer, crisper irons, as well as chips and putts far better than me. I'll give them all the respect they want. But I'd still rather look at Dustin's girlfriend. I'm a guy.

T J Sawyer said...

Four of the last seven Illinois governors have been sentenced to prison.

Could that cause some of the mistrust of their state government?

MarkW said...

The only high-trust state in New England? New Hampshire. The only high-trust state in the Great Lakes region? Indiana. The only high-trust state among the most populous? Texas. Utah is above average but neighboring (and slight less populous) Nevada is below average. Any patterns there?

Rusty said...

And 53% percent of you morons voted to put the "Illinois Machine" into the White House. What a bunch a dopes.