2023/11/02 by Marte Winsvold, Atle Haugsgjerd, Jo Saglie +1 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Social Capital and Networks #Social and Intergroup Psychology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/01402382.2023.2268459
openalex publication_date 2023/11/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
High political trust is often interpreted as a sign of good democratic health, and widespread distrust as a sign of democratic ill health. However, there is little knowledge about the basis on which people make assessments about whether to trust or distrust political actors. This article develops and applies a typology for political trust judgement. Through a content analysis of 1,105 open-ended survey questions about political trust and distrust, the study finds that people tend to assess (dis)trust of politicians based on whether they see the politicians as predictable, intrinsically committed, competent and responsive. Moreover, the study finds that citizens use different judgement bases to describe trust and distrust, suggesting that the two concepts are not pure negations of each other. While predictability is the most frequently reported basis for trusting politicians, a lack of intrinsic commitment is the most frequently reported basis for distrusting politicians. This article discusses the reasons for and implications of the apparently different bases for weighing judgements on trust and distrust.