This op-ed by State Policy Network’s Erin Norman was first published at RealClearPolitics

Republicans may be poised to take control in Congress this November, but success at the polls marks the beginning of the battle, not the conclusion of it. Regardless of who holds the majority, all elected officials in Washington will have to grapple with the reality that the federal government is now one of the least trusted entities in an America where trust in all institutions is bottoming out.

It is not surprising that people have lost trust in government when reports show Congress beat the stock market in 2021, Hunter Biden’s controversial business dealings with the Chinese while his father was the vice president continue to make headlines, and the Food and Drug Administration recently admitted it was the cause of the baby formula shortage.

The public is taking notice of these recent institutional failures. Gallup data released in July shows that for 16 major U.S. institutions, 15 saw a decrease in public confidence over the last 12 months. Now, fewer than one-in-four Americans trust critical institutions such as newspapers, the criminal justice system, television news, and Congress. The presidency, trusted by just 23% of Americans, took the largest hit over the past year – driven by an 18-point drop among Democrats.

The lack of trust in our federal government is driven by a complete lack of faith in the people in charge, according to new polling by State Policy Network. Among voters who believe the federal government is untrustworthy, 35% cite corrupt and power-hungry individuals running government as the reason. That response is nearly three times higher than the next most popular reason – that government has proven itself to be incapable, yielding 12% of respondents.

Read the full piece at RealClearPolitics here.