Allow me to offer an alternative explanation of this phenomenon for consideration. Typically, when polled about their trust in insitutions, people tend to trust the executive branch more than the legislature or the courts, and they trust the military far more than they trust civilian government agencies. In the period before 9/11, our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity would generally have made the military less salient in people’s minds, and the spectacles of impeachment and Bush v. Gore would have made the legislative and judicial branches more salient in people’s minds. After 9/11, the legislative agenda quieted down/the legislature temporarily took a back seat to the executive, and military and national security organs became very high salience. So when people were asked about the government, the most immediate associations would have been to the parts that were viewed as more trustworthy.
Allow me to offer an alternative explanation of this phenomenon for consideration. Typically, when polled about their trust in insitutions, people tend to trust the executive branch more than the legislature or the courts, and they trust the military far more than they trust civilian government agencies. In the period before 9/11, our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity would generally have made the military less salient in people’s minds, and the spectacles of impeachment and Bush v. Gore would have made the legislative and judicial branches more salient in people’s minds. After 9/11, the legislative agenda quieted down/the legislature temporarily took a back seat to the executive, and military and national security organs became very high salience. So when people were asked about the government, the most immediate associations would have been to the parts that were viewed as more trustworthy.