John Overholt's faith in the state and federal government is at an all-time low.
"Nosedived,” Overholt said. “You know it nosedived and went and bounced right off the sidewalk."
Then there's Ali Richter, she says while she does have confidence in the state and federal levels, she favors local.
"I trust local government a lot more than federal because you can actually be involved and know what's actually happening," Richter said.
Their attitudes might not be uncommon because according to a 2016 survey polling around 1,000 people in Michigan, 44 percent said they trust the local government. Meanwhile state government only received 20 percent. And the federal government received 16 percent.
"That means that the other 80 or 84 percent don't say that,” MSU Economics Professor Charles Ballard said. “So it's not a fabulous rating."
Although the numbers are low, they're actually on the rise.
"It's coming back from all-time lows,” Ballard said. “What we saw was a long term decline and it sort of bottomed out a couple years after the great recession."
Ballard says he isn't surprised about the lack of faith in the government.
"Things have not necessarily gone well for a lot of citizens and they hoped that their government would do better,” Ballard said. “You know, the Flint water crisis, the great recession job losses."
One of the trends of the survey is that the state and federal trust is typically on the lower end and it usually stays that way except for certain events that can cause huge spikes in how people view the government.
"In 2002 for all three levels of government, they reached their all-time high,” Ballard said. “And that was, we believe because the survey was taken a few months after the terrorist attacks on 9/11."
As for the local level-- the numbers trend high.
Which Ballard says is because it’s full of familiar faces.
