Locals’ comfy levels of trust, happiness, shield politicians

If the news of the day isn’t worrisome enough to wipe that grin off your face, how about a poll?

Actually, a new set of polls from Gallup show that Hawaii is moving from sunshine and smiles to being slightly disgruntled.

Back in February, the first polling shocker was that we were no longer leading the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (http://goo.gl/ 8KzFyt). The poll is based on 176,000 interviews done across the country during 2013.

Hawaii not being the Magic Kingdom was one thing, but according to that poll, here are the states with more happy faces than Hawaii: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Montana.

Hawaii slipped to eighth place. This comes after scoring first for four years in a row.

When you used to be a winner, being in the Top Ten really doesn’t count for much, except to say at least we aren’t West Virginia, which had been the bottom state for well-being for five years in a row.

But really, what happened with Hawaii that those places from the Midwest Frozen Tundra Belt are ahead of us?

Officials with Gallup said Hawaii dropped in ratings for job satisfaction, ability to use strengths at work, treatment by your supervisor, and having an open and trusting work environment.

There is always next year’s survey to put that sparkle in your smile, but you may still not believe.

A second Gallup poll released this month has us in the middle of the pack when it comes to trust in government (http://goo.gl/OH12RA).

Again North Dakota is the leader in trust in government. The state that trusts government the least is Illinois, which is understandable because it has put more of its governors in jail than even Louisiana.

Twenty-eight percent of Illinois residents trust their state government "a great deal" or "a fair amount."

In contrast, at least 75 percent of North Dakota, Wyoming and Utah residents trust their state governments, Gallup reports.

For Hawaii, a total of 57 percent say they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in government.

Vermont, Wisconsin and Alabama also reported trust rates of 57 percent.

Twelve percent of Hawaii residents say they have no trust at all in government to handle state problems.

For all the insistence on living without government involvement, conservative or red states report the least amount of government distrust. Texas has only 5 percent who say they have no trust in government.

And those relentlessly cheerful North Dakotans also have only 5 percent with no trust in government.

Other national polls show that compared to decades ago, Americans are developing a strong sense of skepticism in government.

The National Security Administration phone monitoring reports, the concerns about misleading information in the Iraq war and the debate on the effectiveness of the Affordable Care Act all have contributed to a national cynicism about government.

The new Gallup poll is the first to measure government trust on a state-by-state basis.

On a local level, we are more middle-of-the-roaders than happy campers or bomb throwers, which should be a comforting trend for politicians hoping to remain in office.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.