Beyond polarization and priming: Public agenda diversity and trust in government

Objective The study set out to examine how diversity and volatility in the public's issue agenda are related to trust in government and congressional approval. Method Data from 1975 through 2014 for public agenda issue concerns, agenda diversity, agenda volatility, congressional polarization, trust in government, and congressional approval were transformed into a quarterly time series and analyzed with ridge regression. Results A more diverse public agenda is associated with less trust in government. When agenda volatility is higher, congressional approval is higher, perhaps because the government is perceived as dealing effectively with public problems —or perhaps because the public is distracted. Diversity and volatility interact: When many evenly matched issues are on a public agenda that is turning over quickly, congressional approval is higher than when a similarly diverse agenda is stagnant. Conclusion The American public's evaluations of government are affected not only by the issue content of the public agenda but also by the character of the public agenda.