August 7, 2009

MEDIA CONTACT: William Adams
703-522-2020; adams@gwu.edu
Nick Massella
202-994-6424; massella@gwu.edu

AMERICANS ENDORSE CAREERS IN GOVERNMENT
BUT LACK CONFIDENCE IN GOVERNMENT WORKERS

WASHINGTON - Nearly 80 percent of Americans would encourage young people to work for the federal government, but the latest George Washington University Battleground Poll also indicates that many Americans lack confidence in government workers.

Poll respondents said overwhelmingly they would "encourage a young person who was considering going to work as a federal civilian employee." Only 15 percent would discourage that career path.
However, Americans surveyed did not voice strong confidence in the "civilian employees of the federal government."  Only 21 percent said they had a "great deal" or "a lot" of confidence in them. In fact, 21 percent expressed "very little confidence." More than half - 53 percent - said they had "some confidence" in federal civilian employees. The survey was conducted July 19-23 with a random national sample of 1,007 registered voters. The results were published in the August issue of PA Times, a publication of the American Society for Public Administration.

When applications for graduate study in GW's Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences soared this year, professors William Adams and Donna Lind Infeld enlisted the GW-Battleground Poll to track attitudes toward careers in public service. Not all careers in public service involve working for the federal government, but many Master's of Public Administration and Master's of Public Policy graduates of the Trachtenberg School and of other universities are hired by federal agencies.

"The results confirmed that the federal government is widely viewed as an extremely good employer," Adams said.  "How much this high level of support is due to uncertainties in the private sector this year is something we'll have to wait until later surveys to determine."

The skepticism of those polled regarding the trust in federal workers could be problematic for the Obama administration. According to Infeld, "The low level of confidence in federal workers is as low as Gallup is now recording for banks. This underlying skepticism could hamper the new administration's efforts for the federal government to play a larger role in areas such as health care."

Younger adults expressed more confidence in government workers than senior citizens. Adults 18 to 44 years old were more than twice as likely to express a "great deal" or "a lot" of confidence than adults 65 and over, 29 percent to 16 percent. Confidence was also higher among African Americans and Hispanics than among whites (35 percent to 18 percent). Democrats were also more likely to express confidence than Republicans, 29 percent to 15 percent.

The George Washington University sponsors the GW-Battleground Poll, a unique national survey conducted under the joint leadership of a leading Democratic pollster, Celinda Lake, president of Lake Research Partners, and a leading Republican pollster, Ed Goeas, president of The Tarrance Group.

Initiated in June 1991, GW-Battleground polls have gained widespread recognition as reliable indicators of national opinions and have the distinction of being the most accurate national poll, predicting results in three of the past four presidential elections.

The Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration is GW's focal point for public affairs education, as well as research and public service. It falls under the auspices of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, the largest of the University's academic units, with more than 40 departments and programs for undergraduate, graduate and professional studies.

For more information about the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration,
visit www.gwu.edu/~tspppa.

For more information about GW's Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, visit www.columbian.gwu.edu.  

For more news about The George Washington University, visit www.gwnewscenter.org.

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