A new Reason-Rupe Poll of 1,200 adults on cell phones and
landlines finds 76 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of
their banks and just 15 percent view them unfavorably. In contrast,
only 32 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the
federal government and 62 percent view it unfavorably.

State governments are more popular than the federal government,
but only half of all Americans view them positively. As you get
closer to home, 58 percent of Americans have positive views of
their local government and the same number look upon their local
school district favorably.

The survey finds people feel a lot better about private
businesses. For example, 88 percent of Americans have a positive
view of their grocery store; 73 percent look favorably upon their
cell phone maker; and 69 percent say they view their Internet
service provider favorably.

For each of the following entities, please tell me if your
impression is very favorable, mostly favorable, mostly unfavorable,
or very unfavorable. If you don’t know enough to give your
feelings, just say so. 

These results suggest several things about what Americans care
about. First, Americans tend to hold higher opinions of private
institutions than public institutions. Second, Americans tend to
prefer firms that tailor products and services to them individually
and have a presence locally in the community. Third, Americans tend
to prefer institutions that allow them to choose between firms; for
example, it’s quite easy to switch between grocery stores and
banks, but it becomes more difficult to switch Internet service
providers (as governments often divvy up company coverage by
neighborhood). It is even more difficult, but possible, to switch
your child’s school. One would have to move to switch local
governments, would have to move even further to switch state
governments. Finally, it is extraordinarily difficult to switch
federal governments.

One could make the case that less competition among these latter
firms results in them offering less attractive services and
products. Nevertheless, further research is needed to more credibly
assert the causes between favorability toward private and public
institutions.

Find full Reason-Rupe Q4 2011 poll results, question wording,
and methodology here.

The Reason-Rupe Q4 2011
poll collected a nationally representative sample of 1200
respondents, aged 18 and older from all 50 states and the District
of Columbia using live telephone interviews from December 1-13.
Interviews were conducted on both landline and mobile phones. The
margin of sampling error for this poll is +/- 3 percent. 

Follow Emily Ekins on Twitter @emilyekins