Public Satisfaction with Federal Services Increases
January 18, 2012
Americans today are happier with federal services than they were a year ago, but overall trust in government has declined, according to a new survey.
The public's satisfaction with federal services increased 2.3 percent to a score of 66.9 in 2011, after a 5 percent decrease between 2009 and 2010, the American Customer Satisfaction Index found. People's trust in Uncle Sam, however, dropped 12 percent from a score of 41 in 2010 to 36 in 2011. The index is based on a 0 to 100 point scoring scale.
Respondents in general were more pleased with experiences at specific departments than with the government overall.
"While people generally distrust federal government as a whole, they are much more positive toward the job that individual agencies are performing," said Claes Fornell, ACSI founder and author of The Satisfied Customer: Winners and Losers in the Battle for Buyer Preference (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).