As budget gaps increase, citizens rate local governments more favorably than state governments.

• Position: News & Numbers

As the economy continues to create challenges for state and local governments, citizens' ratings of their local governments have remained relatively stable while favorability ratings of state governments have declined from a year ago. By a nearly two-to-one margin, Americans express a favorable opinion of their local governments (60 percent favorable, 32 percent unfavorable), according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. That is largely unchanged from April 2008, when 63 percent gave their local governments a favorable rating. At the same time, 50 percent of the public now holds a favorable opinion of their state government, down from 59 percent in April 2008. The falloff in positive views has been greater in states that have large and moderate budget shortfalls than in states with smaller budget gaps.

The national survey conducted in July 2009 by the Pew Research Center found that in the 12 states facing the largest budget gaps, 58 percent of respondents now have an unfavorable view of their state governments, and 38 percent have a favorable view. In April 2008, opinion was evenly divided in these states (48 percent favorable, 47 percent unfavorable). Most states are struggling during the recession, and nearly all are facing revenue shortfalls. The balance of opinion regarding state governments has turned negative in states with the largest budget gaps--the size of the shortfall relative to the state's overall budget. Based on the size of the budget gap for fiscal...