Washington's reputation has taken a blow last year and as result, less citizens have trust in the government, Reuters reported.

After Barack Obama's grapple with a budget showdown, the SNowden spying crisis and the botched rollout of "Obamacare," just 37 percent of college-educated adults told the Edelman Trust Barometer that they trusted the U.S. government. This figure is six points down on a year earlier and seven points below the global average.

Trust rates in France, Spain and Italy were lower than that of the United States, but the scale of the American decline was "particularly dramatic," Reuters reported.

These results come after Americans' brief phase of enthusiasm for the role of the state in "preventing economic Armageddon," Richard Edelman, head of U.S. public relations firm Edelman, which commissioned the study, told Reuters.

"In 2008 and 2009, it was a case of government to the rescue and everybody said government saved the day. That raised expectations - but then you get crushed," he said.

Three big events worked against the United States last year.

This includes the impasse between Democrats and Republicans over the budget; the crisis over spying revelations by former U.S. contractor Edward Snowden; and the botched rollout of the contentious Obamacare healthcare system due to technical problems with a federal website.

"There is almost despair in some aspects of government. How does a computer system not work for healthcare? That is just a competence question," Edelman said.

These events contibuted to the gap in trust between government and business widening to a record level, with corporations now enjoying a 14-point advantage.

The survey shows that trust in business overall stabilized at 58 percent. While Americans showed confidence in some industry sectors is high - such as technology and autos.

The Trust survey took the opinions of 6,000 college-educated from October 16 to November 29.