Watergate ushered in a 'new era' of political distrust and the US has still not recovered: report

Fifty years ago this week, the Watergate scandal started a decline in the public's faith in the US government.

Zelizer told The Washington Post that it was a huge historic moment. When it ended, we entered a new era.

The 1972 break-in at the Watergate Hotel, along with the Vietnam war, signaled a shift in the relationship between the public and government.

The percentage of people who said they trusted the government to do what was right "just about always" or "most of the time" was around 62% in 1968.

It was 36% after Nixon left office.

The study shows that public trust in the government has fallen since then. The downward trend in trust in the government has been going on for almost 50 years.

The trust has never rebounded to the pre-Watergate levels, according to Joycelyn Kiley.

18% of Americans believe the country's leaders will do what is right "just about always" or "most of the time", which is the lowest level of trust since the Trump administration.

Trust has gone up under Joe Biden.

The relationship between the American people and their government was changed by the Vietnam War and the Pentagon Papers.