What we think about trust and politics is (mostly) wrong

Pop quiz: Name this country.

It’s a presidential election year in one of the world’s richest and most advanced nations, high in political freedom and with a relatively democratic spread of incomes. Elections are very closely fought, but the vast majority of people believe most of their compatriots can be trusted to do the right thing most of the time, and they have strong confidence both in their news media and in their government.

Finland? Of course.

But this was also the United States in 1960.

The America of three generations ago had one of the world’s highest levels of social trust. Three out of 4 Americans in 1960 said they trusted the national government to do the right thing at least most of the time. And it wasn’t a partisan phenomenon. That was under a Republican president. But the trust level actually peaked at 77%, for both Black and white Americans, in 1964, when a Democrat was in the White House.

Could the U.S. ever reclaim that level of unity and of trust in government, trust in media, trust in key institutions, and trust in each other?

Certainly it would be a long climb. Last year, trust in government was at 16%, and it now has a deep partisan tilt. American trust is low across the board, but it’s two to three times lower among those whose favored political party does