Americans Trust State and Local Officials the Most in Running Elections
In This Resource
The more local the election official, the more Americans trust them to ensure that elections remain free, fair, and secure.
People say they trust their local elections officials the most, followed by their state officials. National political officials rank the lowest in trust to run elections.
In this country’s decentralized system, the U.S. Constitution gives state and local officials the most responsibilities over election administration. At a time when the Trump administration continues to push for more power in controlling the election process through executive action, lawsuits, and investigations, Americans align with the legal authority granted to the states.
That trust also extends to courts to handle election-related disputes. When allegations of election fraud do arise, Americans across the political spectrum trust courts to judge them fairly.
States United partnered with YouGov on a national survey of 1,537 adults from May 19 through 29, 2026, to better understand Americans’ views on these issues.
- More than six in ten Americans report having either a great deal or a fair amount of trust in their local elections officials to ensure free, fair, and secure elections.
- Americans report similar levels of trust in secretaries of state, governors, and attorneys general, but all three trail local elections officials. Americans place less trust in national officials than in local or state officials to run elections, and trust the Trump administration the least.
- A majority of Americans trust courts to judge allegations of election fraud fairly.
We asked Americans how much trust they have in the people and institutions that work to ensure our elections are free, fair, and secure. Americans were most likely to trust their local officials who certify election results a great deal or fair amount (67%) and trust their local officials who administer elections a great deal or fair amount (65%). For comparison, smaller shares of Americans express high levels of trust their state’s governor (56%), attorney general (55%), and secretary of state (54%).
A plurality of Americans have no trust in the Trump administration to ensure free, fair, and secure elections (46%). By contrast, very few Americans (8 to 10%) had no trust at all in their local elections officials—the lowest level of “none at all” across the officials and institutions that are involved in elections. These patterns are consistent with States United polling from earlier this year and fall 2025.
When it comes to judging allegations of election fraud, most Americans (51%) trust courts a great deal or a fair amount. This includes a majority of Democrats (57%) and about half of Republicans (49%). Only about 1 in 7 Americans have no trust in the courts to judge election fraud allegations.
These data are taken from a States United survey based on 1,537 interviews conducted on the internet of U.S. adults. Participants were drawn from YouGov’s online panel and were interviewed from May 19 to 29, 2026. Respondents were selected to be representative of American adults. Responses were additionally weighted to match population characteristics with respect to gender, age, race/ethnicity, education of registered voters, and U.S. Census region based on voter registration lists, the U.S. Census American Community Survey, and the U.S. Census Current Population Survey, as well as 2022 midterm turnout, and 2020 and 2024 presidential vote. The margin of error for this survey is approximately ± 2.9 percentage points, though it is larger for the analysis of partisan subgroups. Therefore, sample estimates should differ from their expected value by less than the margin of error in 95% of all samples. This figure does not reflect non-sampling errors, including potential selection bias in panel participation or measurement error.
We used shorthand in the figure of results above to label some of the political figures and institutions to improve readability. The full text that respondents saw when answering these trust questions follows:
- Your state’s governor
- Your state’s supreme court
- Your state’s legislature
- Your local officials who administer elections
- Your local officials who certify election results
- Your state’s secretary of state
- The Supreme Court of the United States
- The U.S. Congress
- The Trump administration
- Your state’s attorney general
- This said “Your state’s secretary of the commonwealth” for respondents living in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Virginia.