![]() The view that others are less reliable than in the past is more common among those 50 and older, Republicans and those who lean Republican, those without a college degree, those living in households earning less than $30,000 and those living in rural areas. This compares with 21% of Americans who think interpersonal trust has declined even though people are as reliable as they always have been. Why the decline? In a closed-end question, 49% of Americans say they think citizens’ trust in each other has fallen because people are not as reliable as they used to be. This compares with 22% who believe Americans are as confident in each other now as they were a generation ago and 7% who think they are more confident now than then. Americans think several factors have weakened interpersonal confidence, starting with the tone of national politics and the media’s coverage of itĪbout seven-in-ten Americans (71%) think people are less confident in each other than they were 20 years ago. Their place on the spectrum is strongly tied with their views about institutions and their dispositions toward each other, their different views about the urgency of the problems linked to distrust, their beliefs about the fallout from distrust, their personal strategies for handling trust issues and their sense of how distrust impacts dimensions of national life. Americans sort into a spectrum of high, medium and low trust. This chapter develops a personal trust scale according to survey respondents’ views about the risks and rewards of meeting and engaging with others. Additionally, a share of the public thinks toxic national politics and polarization have taken their toll on the way Americans think of each other. They also call out others’ personal traits such as laziness, greed and dishonesty. Among the many factors on their minds, they cite social and policy woes, such as a perception that Americans are increasingly living with loneliness and isolation, as well as the nation’s continuing struggles with race relations, crime, and religion versus secularism. Those who feel some urgency about the problem offer a variety of reasons why they think things have deteriorated. Nearly six-in-ten (58%) believe it is very important to improve the level of confidence Americans have in each other, while another 35% feel it somewhat important to find ways to restore trust. Whatever is causing the problem, many Americans think it needs to be remedied. They agree with the statement that personal trust is dropping even though people are as reliable as they have always been. Relatedly, a fifth of adults (21%) think personal confidence in the country has worsened for little good reason. ![]() Yet there is also evidence that people worry the swing toward interpersonal distrust is an overreaction: About three-in-four Americans (79%) think their fellow citizens have too little confidence in each other. And about half (49%) think a major weight dragging down such trust is that Americans are not as reliable as they used to be. ![]() Fully 71% think interpersonal confidence has worsened in the past 20 years. ![]() In addition to their concerns about low and declining levels of trust in government, many Americans are anxious about the level of confidence citizens have in each other.
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