BALTIMORE (WBFF) — With grocery prices climbing, some Baltimore-area residents say their confidence in government is falling just as fast.
“Here we are spending twice as much as we were,” one shopper said.
A new UMBC poll found that 62% of Baltimore residents trust their local government “never” or only “some of the time.” In Baltimore County, 63% of residents reported a similar level of distrust.
“I’d think it’d be a lot higher,” said Robert Lane, a retiree.
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“It doesn’t surprise me in the least. A lot of people have distrust for governments,” said Rod VanBlake, a Hampden resident.
“They campaign on certain things to get your vote, and once they get your vote, then you’re no longer necessary, and it’s rinse and repeat and start promising stuff for the next go around,” said VanBlake.
Other residents say government spending and accountability are a major source of their distrust.
“Nothing about them is public service. It’s the simple entity of…I work in city government, I’ve got access to all this money, and I can’t keep my hands to myself…that’s all it is,” said Brian Smith in West Baltimore.
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“I just think it’s run very poorly. They’re constantly losing tens of millions of dollars. And you’re going, where did it go? No one seems to know. People have their hands in all these pockets,” said Lane.
The percentage of distrust is slightly less than the results of a similar UMBC poll a year ago. Still, some residents believe taxpayers deserve more from the government.
“Well start changing the system, which they say they’ve been doing for years, and nothing’s happened. You just laugh and say, ‘Well, here we go again,'” Lane said.
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