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Amidst declining public trust in the U.S. government, understanding what shapes public views of different levels of government is vital to gaining public support and confidence. This study investigates how authoritarian attitudes, defined as dispositional preferences for conformity, obedience, and conventional social order over autonomy and independent thinking (Feldman & Stenner, 1997), shape public trust across the federal, state, and local government levels. Drawing upon data from the 2023 Cooperative Election Study, we find that authoritarianism is significantly associated with increased trust in federal and state governments, but not in local governments, even when accounting for political ideology. We further explore how these dynamics are moderated by public service motivation (PSM), revealing that individuals high in both PSM and authoritarianism exhibit unique trust patterns. Higher PSM corresponds with higher levels of trust across levels of government and increases trust across all levels for those with greater authoritarian attitudes. These findings offer theoretical and practical insights into how individual attitudes and motivations condition public trust in federalist systems.
