Burning Question: Does a steady paycheck buy trust in government?

When it comes to trust levels, a blogger argues, one factor gets a lot less attention than it deserves.

"It's not special interests and partisanship that have made Americans lose their faith in government," argues John Sides in The Monkey Cage blog this week. In fact, he argues, peaks and valleys in trust levels are strongly associated with the overall performance of the economy.

Put simply, "People trust government when times are good," Sides writes. "They don't trust it when times are bad."

What Will Make People Trust Government Again?
(The Monkey Cage)

Burning Question is a recurring feature that looks at key issues and compelling stories being explored at other publications and social media sites covering the federal government.

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