News They Don’t Hear: Why Americans Trust Local and State Governments More

Todd Donovan, Caroline Tolbert, Shaun Bowler, Department of Political Science, Western Washington University, Department of Political Science, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Department of Political Science, University of California

Political Research Quarterly

Published online on May 04, 2026

Abstract

Political Research Quarterly, Volume 79, Issue 3, Page 912-920, September 2026.
Many people hear less news about state and local governments than national government, and many trust state and local governments more. We propose different levels of trust are related to consumption of news, which may be more available and critical at ...