What Determines American Citizens' Views of the Administrative State?

• In Event: Pluralism in Attitudes Toward American Government

Abstract

What determines American citizens’ views of the administrative state? For decades, political discourse in the US has revolved around the question of what role government should play in society. A crucial component of this discourse is how American citizens perceive the administrative state, with views ranging from very positive attitudes and high levels of trust on one side to complete opposition and distrust on the other. In this study, based on an original survey with more than 1,100 participants, we present a comprehensive analysis of the factors that influence Americans’ attitudes toward the public bureaucracy and perceptions of public service quality. Specifically, we consider interactions between various randomly assigned survey conditions, including information about bureaucratic performance, and (1) deeply-rooted belief systems or world views, (2) political affiliations, and (3) personal negative exposure to the Covid pandemic and its indirect economic effects. A comprehensive set of empirical analyses allows us to compare and contrast the relative influence of these vastly different factors in shaping individual perceptions of bureaucrats and governmental institutions.

Authors

• Edgar V. Cook, Duke University

• Jan P. Vogler, University of Konstanz