Political Trust and the Health of Democracy in the United States. Rethinking Traditional Measures and Interpretations
| Autor | Joe Gershtenson - Jeffrey Ladewig - Dennis L. Plane |
| Páginas | 111-129 |
Revista Mexicana de Análisis Político y Administración Pública
Departamento de Gestión Pública y Departamento de Estudios Políticos y de Gobierno
Volumen II, número 1, enero-junio 2013
Pp. 111-129
Revista Mexicana de Análisis Político y Administración Pública. Universidad de Guanajuato.
111
Political trust and the health of democracy in the united
states. rethinking traditional measures and interPretations
Conanza política y vigor de la democracia en los Estados Unidos.
Repensar las medidas tradicionales e interpretacione s
Joe Gershtenson
Jeffrey Ladewig
Dennis L. Plane
Abstract
Assumptions that higher levels of trust in
government are always beneficial to demo-
cracy may be inappropriate, and the extent
to which residents of the United States ()
trust government is often underestimated due
to common interpretations of public opinion
data. Reexamining the widely used American
National Election Studies () data, we find
that citizens are more trusting than is ge-
nerally portrayed and typically have attitudes
and behaviors that are healthy for democracy.
We also outline shortcomings with the
trust question. Using an alternative measure of
political trust, we demonstrate that the
question hides important variation in citizens’
levels of trust and tends to understate levels
of trust. In sum, the often-expressed concern
over current levels of political trust in the
is likely misplaced and researchers there and
elsewhere should give careful consideration to
measuring and interpreting trust.
Keywords: political trust, , democracy,
measurement
Resumen
Las asunciones que los niveles más altos de la
confianza en el gobierno siempre son benefi-
ciosos para la democracia pueden ser inade-
cuadas, y el grado de confianza en el gobier-
no que tienen los residentes de los Estados
Unidos (EE.UU) a menudo se subestima de-
bido a interpretaciones comunes de datos de
opinión pública. Reexaminando los datos de
American National Election Studies () de
uso común, encontramos que los ciudadanos
estadounidenses son más confiados que gene-
ralmente se retrata y típicamente tenga actitu-
des y comportamientos que son sanos para la
democracia. También perfilamos defectos con
la pregunta de confianza de . Usando una
medida alternativa de la confianza política,
demostramos que la pregunta esconde
la variación importante en los niveles de los
ciudadanos de la confianza y tiende a subes-
timar niveles de la confianza. En la suma, la
preocupación a menudo expresada por niveles
actuales de la confianza política en los EE.UU
probablemente se extravía e investigadores allí
y en otra parte debería dar la larga deliberación
a medición e interpretación de la confianza.
Palabras clave: confianza política, , la de-
mocracia, mensuración
Fecha de recepción: de d iciembre de
Fecha de aceptación: de mayo d e
00REMAP03.indb 111 03/06/13 21:14
Revista Mexicana de Análisis Político y Administración Pública. Universidad de Guanajuato. Volumen II, número 1, enero-junio 2013
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At some level, democratic legitimacy depends on positive citizen evaluations of its
government. erefore, it is no surprise that political scientists and pundits frequently
evaluate the extent to which residents of the United States () trust their government,
typically concluding t hat trust is too low. e recent decline in political trus t reinforces
the gloomy perception that political trust has reached dangerously low levels. As just
one example, a recent article in the Washington Post (Cillizza and Blake, ) speaks
of “the depressing reality” of long-term downward trends of trust in government and
suggests “that there is no obvious cure for what ails the body politic these days.” Given
perceptions such as this, it is unsurprising that much research has focused on how low
levels of political trust negatively impact democracy, or on how to boost trust and im-
prove democracy in the process.
We concur that very low levels of political bode ill for the health of a democratic
society. However, we take issue with the (often implicit) assumption that presupposes
democracy is at its healthiest level when trust is maximized. We argue that the con-
stitutional framework undergirding democracy is based on the belief that govern-
ment should not always be trusted. us, the powers of government are both divided
and shared among various political actors to ensure that power is not abused and that
civil liberties are not violated, with citizens given important watchdog responsibilities
through elections to ensure that government officials are operating in the public inter-
est. In sum, we believe that very hi gh levels of political trust can be just as troubling for
democratic health as very low levels. Overly high levels of trust can lead to a concentra-
tion of powers in the hands of a few government officials and an abd ication of watchdog
responsibilities by the public—characteristics that form the core of de mocr acy.
Furthermore, we argue that public opinion data on political trust is often misinter-
preted and that trust is likely higher than commonly portrayed. A lthough trust has
likely declined in recent decades, we demonstrate how an alternative interpretation of
the data can lead to a different conclusion about levels of trust. We argue that the stan-
dard misinterpretation of the existing data works in tandem with the improper norma-
tive assumption that the more one trusts the government the health ier the democracy is.
ese theoretical and empirical issues work together to draw the standard picture, that
we argue is much gloomier than is appropriate.
We also argue that quirks in the wording of the most commonly used (in the ) po-
litical trust question contribute to the perception that political trust is dangerously low.
Among other things, the traditional measure of political trust, that employed in the
American National Election Studies surveys, uses response options of unequal range
and employs normatively loaded language implying that g reater trust is healthier. us,
researchers typica lly interpret the most trusting response as the most normatively desir-
able and focus on the extent to which citizens fail to live up to this idealized expecta-
tion. Consequently, decline in trust is interpreted as evidence of unhealthy democratic
decay. We argue that imperfections in measuring political trust and the ensuing mis-
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