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102 Pol. Sci. Q. 1 (1987)

handle is hein.journals/pclscceqry102 and id is 1 raw text is: The Confidence Gap during the Reagan Years, 1981-1987 SEYMOUR MARTIN LIPSET WILLIAM SCHNEIDER Remember the confidence gap, the lack of public faith in the func- tioning of major institutions, which started in the late-1960s and seemingly bot- tomed out in the early 1980s?1 Since then, the nation's economic recovery and disinflation, presided over by a President who evoked pride in the nation and faith in its promise and achievements, resulted in a sizeable improvement in many of the indicators of public morale. The malaise crisis to which Jimmy Carter called attention when he lectured the nation in mid-summer 1979 about the existence of a crisis of confidence . .. that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will seemed to be over.2 Seven years later, in the midst of a new crisis caused by the Iran-contra scandal, Ronald Reagan tried to convince the na- tion that during the past six years, we have done much together to restore the faith and confidence and respect of our people and our country.3 But even prior to the scandal, the evidence from the opinion polls did not confirm this hopeful conclusion. Confidence in governmental institutions did improve between 1983 ' Seymour Martin Lipset and William Schneider, The Decline of Confidence in American Institu- tions, Political Science Quarterly 98 (Fall 1983): 379-402; and The Confidence Gap: Business, Labor, and Government in the Public Mind (New York: The Free Press, 1983; rev. paperback ed., Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1987). 2 Tlanscript of Presidents Address to Country on Energy Problems,New York Times, 16 July 1979. 'Radio Address by Reagan from Camp David, The New York Times, 7 December 1986, SEYMOUR MARTIN LIPSET is the Caroline S.. Munro Professor of Political Science and So- ciology and Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has also been the presi- dent of the American Political Science Association and the World Association for Public Opinion Research. WILLIAM SCHNEIDER is associated editorially with the Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, and the National Journal. This article draws on the updated materials in the just published paperback edition of their book, The Confidence Gap: Business; Labor and Government in the Public Mind. Political Science Quarterly Volume 102 Number 1 Spring 1987 I

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