

A National Park Service employee posts a sign on a barricade closing access to the Lincoln Memorial. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Last year’s 16-day partial government shutdown was a difficult time in many ways, but it appears to have generated some lasting good will for federal employees.

Almost three-quarters of those surveyed by George Washington University “had ‘a lot’ (22 percent) or ‘some’ confidence (51 percent) in federal civilian workers,” according to a report planned for release Monday.

“These findings may not be a resounding affirmation of trust but they are significantly better than those recorded prior to the federal government shutdown in 2013,” William C. Adams and Donna Lind Infeld, professors at the university’s Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, wrote in an article announcing the survey results.

In 2013 before the shutdown, the “lot” and “some” confidence figures were 19 percent and 42 percent respectively. After the October closings, when many residents had to do without government services, the appreciation for federal workers took a significant bounce. At that time 28 percent said they had a “lot” of confidence in the workforce, and 46 percent said they had “some.”

“Confidence rebounded after the government shutdown, perhaps prompted by a new-found appreciation of the federal workforce,” said Adams and Infeld.

The latest results, the authors added, “come close to hitting the highest points recorded since GW researchers began tracking this opinion measure” in 2009.



(Courtesy of George Washington University)

Not surprisingly, Democrats look more favorably upon government workers than do Republicans.

Only 13 percent of Republican expressed “a lot of confidence in federal workers, while 36 percent have little or no confidence,” the authors said. “Among Democrats, (the) numbers are almost reversed, with only 13 percent having or no confidence and 32 percent having a lot of confidence. In 2011 and 2012, Independents were moving toward the GOP’s degree of skepticism, but now they are back in the middle between the partisans.”

Democrats overwhelmingly, 88 percent, would recommend a career in the federal service. Republicans would too, but by a much shorter margin, 56 percent.

The telephone survey of 1,000 registered voters, selected randomly from across the country, was done in August by Democratic, Lake Research Partners, and Republican, The Tarrance Group, firms.