Charleston Reporter

A recent Trafalgar Group poll shows voters trust politicians mainly along party lines.

In partnership with Convention of States Action (COSA), the survey of 1,119 likely general election voters found that Democrats trust President Joe Biden, congressional Democrats, and governors and state legislators who are also Democrats to be "most effective at defending the rights and promoting the issues" they as voters care about. The opposite held true among Republican voters, who trust only congressional Republicans, and Republican governors and state lawmakers.

Overall, at the federal and state levels combined, voters found Republican leaders most effective, 48% to 44.2%, including 33% of all respondents favoring state lawmakers to 34.8% trusting Biden and federal legislators.

Among just Democrats, 77.7% said they trust only federal and state leaders and lawmakers who are also Democrats, while 84.8% of Republicans favor federal and state government officials who are Republican to get the job done on issues that affect them. 

Within each political party, the poll again revealed the Democrats' trust in federal leadership over state at 63.5%, while conversely 63.1% of Republicans preferred state government over federal. 

The gap, however, narrowed somewhat among non-affiliated party voters, which saw more than half - 51.6% - favor Republican leaders at both the federal and state levels, to just 41.1% of voters who trust Democrat politicians. When broken down to federal vs. state among Independent voters, Republicans held the edge at the state level at 30.3%, as opposed to the 26.9% of voters who sided with federal Democrats. 

When it comes to Democrats favoring Republican federal and state leaders, 12.5% of them trust Republican leadership, as opposed to just 9.4% of Republicans favoring Democrats. 

COSA is a grassroots political organization with over 5 million supporters across the U.S. The organizations primary focus is on calling an Article V Convention of the States to propose amendments to the US Constitution. 

COSA only promotes amendments which would impose limitations on the size and scope of the federal government, according to its website. 

According to Ballotpedia, Republicans control both the South Carolina Legislature and Executive branches. In Washington, D.C., Republicans win out again, with eight representatives and two senators, to just two Democrat representatives.