After reading a story about the changing demographics of religion in America, I decided to check out the website for the General Social Survey to see if there were any other interesting survey results I could find there. As it turns out, it costs moolah moolah to get a copy of the GSS data, but upon browsing around a little more, I found a section of the Roper Center website entitled “Public Opinion Matters.” Among the questions asked is a curious one. I took their answers and compiled the results on this here chart:

The most confidence displayed in “big government” came around the late ’60s. Labor, over the years, is viewed as less of a threat with nearly each subsequent poll. But notice the startling fall in confidence in big business. This came in July 2002, almost immediately following the rise in corporate scandals. It all makes me wonder how the poll results would look if it were conducted again today.