This is one of the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,848 U.S. adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive® between January 12 and 19, 2009, in a survey that asked the public to rate 15 of the most visible federal government agencies. The poll used the same questions used in six polls over the last nine years. This year we added two new government agencies, the U.S. Mint and the Surgeon General.

The 42-point fall in the SEC’s positive ratings is by a wide margin the biggest change in an agency’s ratings since these questions were first asked in 2000. Most people may not understand many of the things Wall Street does, from derivatives and hedge funds to the securitization of sub-prime mortgages and credit default swaps. But they clearly believe that the SEC, the agency that is supposed to regulate Wall Street, fell down on the job.

Printing money is popular. The U.S. Mint, one of the two agencies that are included in these questions for the first time, comes in at the top of this year’s ratings, with fully 80% of those who understand what it does, giving it a positive rating. The next most highly regarded agencies are the Centers for Disease Control or CDC, with 76% positive rating, the FBI (75%), the Federal Aviation Administration or FAA (71%), the Surgeon General (68%), and the National Institutes of Health or NIH (65%).

The agencies with the lowest positive ratings, other than the SEC (29%), are the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA (44%), the Social Security Administration (44%), the IRS (49%), the FDA (54%) and the Transportation Security Administration or TSA (55%).

Other agencies also have lower ratings this year
The biggest changes since the most recent (2007) Harris Poll are all in one direction, downwards.

• The SEC down 42 points from 71% to 29%
• The USDA down 12 points from 73% to 61%
• The NIH down 10 points from 75% to 65%
• The CDC down 8 points from 84% to 76%
• The TSA down 8 points from 63% to 55%
• The FDA down 8 points from 62% to 54%.
  

So what?
The cataclysmic crash of the SEC’s ratings is, of course, a direct consequence of the failure of the regulators to detect, predict or prevent the financial crisis now rocking the world. However, it is worth noting that the most of the 13 agencies rated this year and in 2007 have seen their ratings fall and only four saw their ratings improve (and these improvements were very small). This systemic decline probably reflects a perception that government agencies are somewhat less trusted to fulfill their mandates now than they were when the economy was still growing.