The Financial Times reports a decline in the numbers expecting improvements in the public services:
"On public services generally, those who believe things will get worse outnumber those who believe they will get better by 22 percentage points, against 13 in May."
The public are probably right. Politicians don't yet appear ready to get out of management. Until they do better public services will prove elusive.
Even in the areas where the public do expect improvement, education for example, they are likely to be disappointed. While increased spending may yield some improvement no serious rise in standards will take place without the kinds of reforms that have been successfully tried elsewhere, Swedish school vouchers for example.
The belief that politicians' promises to improve public services are meaningless is at the root of public distrust in political leaders. Only if politicians get themselves out of management might they really be trusted again.