Public trust in government is at a historic low, influenced in part by rising inequality, political polarization, the impact of climate change, and macro-level economic downturns. In our collective decades of public service, we’ve witnessed this erosion firsthand. And while governments around the world are grappling with a deficit in public trust, recent research from McKinsey, in partnership with Qualtrics, shows declining government trust in the U.S. is most acute among low-income residents. According to the study’s findings, low-income residents in the U.S. earning less than $25,000 a year are a staggering 18 percentage points less likely to be satisfied with government services than higher-earning residents. This is especially concerning given that these are the precise individuals most likely to need and rely on government services.