Causes of Distrust of American Civic Institutions

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy and Kevin Johnson

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On May 5, 2022, we spoke with Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, professor of law at Stetson University College of Law teaching Election Law, Corporate Governance and Constitutional Law and former counsel in the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, and Kevin Johnson, Executive Director of the Election Reformers Network, to explore “Rebuilding Trust in American Civic Institutions: Campaign Finance, Non-partisan Reform & How Business Can Help.”

As we head into the fall mid-term elections, experts warn that low trust in American civic institutions is dangerous for representative democracy, civic freedom and the rule of law – as well as the environment for business. Yet trust in American civic institutions has been in decline since the 1970’s and trust in government has not risen above 30% since 2007. (Pew, 5/17/21)

In this module, we explore:

• What are the root causes of the long-term decline of trust in American civic institutions? 

The Corporate Political Responsibility Taskforce (CPRT) Expert Dialogues are in-depth, recorded conversations with academic experts, stakeholder advocates, and business practitioners to provide our members and other CPR champions with the expertise and context they need to develop principled, proactive CPR strategies. Each module is designed to spark constructive, non-partisan, principles-based dialogue without “being political.”

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is a professor of law at Stetson University College of Law teaching Election Law, Corporate Governance and Constitutional Law and former counsel in the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, where she provided guidance on money in politics and the judiciary to state and federal lawmakers.

Kevin Johnson is the Executive Director of the Election Reformers Network, an advocacy organization focused on modernizing U.S. democratic institutions threatened by hyperpartisanship. 

The full transcript for this module is available here.  

KEYWORDS: #CorporatePoliticalResponsibility #CPR_Responsibility #CPR_Democracy #CPR_Civic Institutions #CPR_Polarization #CPR_LegalAspects #CPR_PoliticalSpending #CPR_Trust #CPR_Trends