Young people don’t trust the government or media, new national Gallup survey says

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GEN Z LACKS TRUST IN GOVERNMENT, NEWS

Via Gillian Brassil ...

Half of voting-age members of Generation Z have “very little” trust in the federal government, according to a new study by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation released around midnight Eastern Time.

Fifty-one percent of voting-age Gen Z respondents said they had “very little” trust in the presidency, up 4 percentage points from a 2023 Gen Z poll on the same subject. Just 14% said they had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust in the White House.

They had less trust in Congress: 53% of voting-age respondents said they had “very little” trust in the legislative body, and only 8% had a “great deal” or “quite a lot.” Of the Supreme Court, 44% said they had “very little trust”; a fifth said they had a “great deal” or “quite a lot.”

Gen Z respondents of all ages were skeptical of the news: 43% said they had “very little” trust while 15% had a “great deal” or “quite a lot.” A quarter of Gen Z respondents expressed “very little trust” for information found on the Internet, while 17% said they had either a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust in online information.

Among Gen Z youth in school, 59% responded that they had either a “great deal” or “quite a lot”of trust in their teachers and other adults at their academic institution. Only 6% of these middle school, high school and college students said they had “very little” trust in their teachers.

The survey, conducted online April 26 to May 9, had 4,157 respondents aged 12 to 27 from across the U.S. The margin of sampling error is plus-or-minus 2.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

Gallup is an analytics and advisory company known for conducting public opinion polls. Walton Family Foundation is a philanthropic organization that has partnered with Gallup to study Gen Z’s experiences.

SHOULD JAN. 6 BE A DAY OF REFLECTION?

Should Jan. 6 — the anniversary of the failed 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection that sought to overturn the 2020 election results and keep then-President Donald Trump in office — become a day of remembrance and reflection?

Assemblyman Evan Low, D-San Jose, thinks so.

He’s introduced a resolution calling for Californians to “reflect on the principles of democracy, the rule of law, and the importance of civic engagement in safeguarding the freedoms and rights that define the United States of America.”

“On January 6, 2021, the world witnessed then-President Donald J. Trump organize and order a mob of his MAGA supporters to the United States Capitol to engage in an unprecedented insurrection and violence to derail the peaceful transfer of power, which has been a cornerstone of American democracy since the founding of the United States of America,” Low, who is running for Congress, said in a statement announcing HR 127.

He went on to say that “it is critical that we as Americans stay engaged and not allow the law enforcement casualties and deaths resulting from the insurrection on January 6, 2021, to be in vain, and that we recommit ourselves collectively to democracy and the rule of law.”

Like pretty much everything else, the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection has become a partisan bickering point, with Democrats using it as a rallying cry to try and keep Trump out of office and Republicans downplaying or denying the former president’s role in that day’s events.

HR 127 will be sent to the Assembly Rules Committee, before heading to the Assembly floor for consideration and a vote.

SENATE GOP RINGS ALARM BELLS ABOUT AB 2441

Senate Republicans are warning that AB 2441, a bill intended to curb over-policing in California schools, will instead lead to both students and school staff being less safe.

The bill, by Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, is aimed at decreasing law enforcement’s involvement in K-12 schools and is intended to cut down the “school-to-prison pipeline” that sees many young people, including a disproportionate number of people of color, ending up in the criminal justice system.

The bill eliminates the requirement that schools notify the police regarding instances of drug possession so long as there is no firearm involved. It also removes the requirement that schools inform law enforcement if a school employee is attacked, assaulted or physically threatened by a student. Instead, schools would only be required to do so if a staff member was physically harmed and required medical attention.

ACLU California Action is a co-sponsor of the bill.

The Senate Republican Caucus on Tuesday took the rare step of releasing their own analysis of the bill, which cites Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper as saying, “This bill will have a negative impact on the safety and security of students in California. Specifically, AB 2441 will result in a concerning reduction in options available to School Resource Officers (SROs) to protect schools throughout the state of California.”

Cooper and a number of other law enforcement officials and organizations have opposed the bill.

Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, R-Yucaipa, who is vice chair of the Senate Education Committee, called the bill “a lose-lose for students, teachers, parents and law enforcement, making it harder to ensure the safety and well-being of our children.”

Reached for comment, Kalra told The Bee in an email statement that “it’s worrisome to see my colleagues on the other side of the aisle resort to fearmongering and misinformation tactics.”

He said that AB 2441 does not bar teachers or administrators from calling the police for any matter.

“It simply narrows when law enforcement must be called, which allows teachers to address student misbehavior in a manner that is more appropriate than handcuffs, such as a meeting in the principal’s office or parent-teacher conference, or connecting the student to social services or mental health services,” Kalra said.

The assemblyman added that “we need to trust and empower our teachers and administrators to make the decisions that they believe are best for the student’s success and the safety of the classroom environment.”

The bill is set to be heard sometime soon on the Senate floor.

QUOTES OF THE DAY

“Look at San Francisco and tell me you want San Francisco politicians running the nation.”

- Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, via X.

“You mean the San Francisco that’s led the nation on:

-Tech innovation

-LGBTQ equality

-Paid parental leave

-Higher minimum wage

-Paid sick leave for workers

That San Francisco? Yeah I want SF politicians running our country, James, not the 2 weirdos who lead your party’s ticket.”

- Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, responding to Gallagher, via X.

Best of The Bee:

• California wanted state workers back in the office. Here’s how many have returned, via William Melhado.

• Did Sacramento-area hospital misplace woman’s body? Suit says family was never told of death, via Hannah Poukish.

This story was originally published August 21, 2024 at 4:55 AM with the headline "Young people don’t trust the government or media, new national Gallup survey says."