ACSI: Citizen Satisfaction Improves for Federal Government - Except With Republicans

All other political affiliations express improved or stable satisfaction, which has led to an overall gain in the federal government ACSI score.

"There is no correlation between the President's approval ratings and citizen satisfaction with government services," says Claes Fornell, ACSI founder and Chairman. "But Democrats tend to be most satisfied, while independents and "other party" members are less so. The Departments of Justice and the Interior usually get high marks; Treasury and HUD much less so."

Technology and digital services have contributed to greater user satisfaction by helping improve the worst aspects of government services. Processes like filling out forms and submitting applications are now easier and more efficient, and response times are faster. Federal websites are easier to use and more helpful, and agencies are providing information that is more accessible and understandable.

Nevertheless, customer service has deteriorated slightly. According to citizens, government employees are not as courteous and professional compared to a year ago.

Citizen satisfaction scores vary widely among individual departments. The Departments of Justice (81) and the Interior (78) earn top marks, better than the economy-wide ACSI national average of 76.7. At the other end of the spectrum are the Departments of the Treasury (61) and Housing and Urban Development (60), far below the government average of 69.7.

Among federal agencies, two of the top performers for 2017 are the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation with an ACSI score of 91 and the Veterans Health Administration's medical center inpatient services at 86 – both higher than most best-in-class private sector benchmarks.

The ACSI Federal Government Report 2017 is based on interviews with 2,881 users, chosen at random and contacted via email in November and December 2017. ACSI scores for individual agencies are derived from independent research conducted by CFI Group, which licenses the ACSI methodology.

The ACSI report is available for free download at http://www.theacsi.org/news-and-resources/customer-satisfaction-reports/reports-2017/acsi-federal-government-report-2017.

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No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the data and information in this release without the express prior written consent of ACSI LLC.

About ACSI
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI^®) is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States. The ACSI uses data from interviews with roughly 70,000 customers annually as inputs to an econometric model for analyzing customer satisfaction with more than 300 companies in 43 industries and 10 economic sectors, including various services of federal and local government agencies.

ACSI results are released throughout the year, with all measures reported on a scale of 0 to 100. ACSI data have proven to be strongly related to a number of essential indicators of micro and macroeconomic performance. For example, firms with higher levels of customer satisfaction tend to have higher earnings and stock returns relative to competitors. Stock portfolios based on companies that show strong performance in ACSI deliver excess returns in up markets as well as down markets. At the macro level, customer satisfaction has been shown to be predictive of both consumer spending and GDP growth.

ACSI and its logo are Registered Marks of the University of Michigan, licensed worldwide exclusively to American Customer Satisfaction Index LLC with the right to sublicense.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Denise DiMeglio, 610-228-2102
[email protected]

SOURCE American Customer Satisfaction Index

Related Links

http://www.theacsi.org