NCoC: Illinoisans Losing Patience and Trust, but Shifting Civic Focus

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Illinoisans Losing Patience and Trust, but Shifting Civic Focus

Illinois 2009 Civic Health Index

November 18, 2009

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Illinois Civic Health Index 2009Click to Download PDF Document

A string of recent scandals involving former governors Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan, Senator Roland Burris, and Chicago mayor Richard Daley has left Illinoisans angry, suspicious, and confused. After Blagojevich’s indictment, State Senator Christine Radogno explained “We’ve been leaderless for a long time. Consequently, our state is ﬂoundering.”5 These scandals’ effects are not just symbolic; researchers at the University of Illinois- Chicago calculated the corruption’s cost to state taxpayers to be at least $500 million a year, which translates to $109 per family.6 In response to these frustrations, Illinoisans hold little trust in their state government, especially compared with the national average. While 27 percent of Americans said that they trust their state government to do what is right all or most of
the time, just 15 percent of Illinoisans showed the same trust in their state government. Illinoisans’ perceptions of Illinois’ civic tradition is among the lowest in the country, with nearly a third (30 percent) of Illinoisans stating that their state’s civic tradition is “not very strong.”

These scandals and subsequent declines in public morality may be hampering Illinoisans’ motivation to become more involved in civic life. Data suggests that Illinoisans are reluctant to become involved in local policymaking. Just 33 percent of Illinoisans said they were willing to get more involved to change local policies, compared with 37 percent of all Americans. A larger percentage of Illinoisans also said they were unwilling to get more involved to change policies, with 30 percent of Illinoisans saying they were unwilling, versus 24 percent of Americans as a whole. Illinoisans showed lower levels of support for a policy that would involve local citizens setting standards and choosing tests for students in their schools (40 percent of Illinoisans willing compared with 50 percent nationwide). Seventy-six percent of Illinoisans also reported cutting back on civic engagement in the past year, compared with 72 percent nationally.

Though Illinois’ volunteering rate has signiﬁcantly declined from 2004 to 20087, Illinoisans do not seem to be losing all of their civic commitments. Rather than being involved in more formal methods of volunteering, Illinoisans are participating in less structured activities such as working with neighbors and attending public meetings. This could be due to two contributing factors. On one hand, Illinoisans may be detaching from their state or city institutions due to aforementioned lack of trust, but they are turning instead to a more personal, neighborhood-level type of service. On top of this, because economic needs have
risen, Illinoisans may lack the resources to participate in formal volunteering (such as discretionary income and time, or access to transportation), and instead are turning inward to help family members, friends and neighbors.*

The Indicators of Civic Health • Millennials Show Lower Engagement and Efficacy in Illinois

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