GOVTRUST Webinar #7 - The Distinct Content, Causes, and Consequences of Political Trust and Distrust

GOVTRUST Webinar #7 - Beyond Only Political Trust: Survey Evidence on the Distinct Content, Causes, and Consequences of Political Trust and Distrust In this webinar, Matthijs Gillissen and dr. Silke Goubin (KU Leuven) present new European survey evidence on political trust and distrust. Debates on political trust often centre on whether distrust should be understood merely as the absence of trust or as a distinct attitude in its own right. While quantitative research has commonly treated distrust as low trust, conceptual discussions increasingly argue that trust and distrust represent separate attitudes. This presentation brings empirical evidence to this discussion, by analysing survey data collected in eight European countries within the Horizon Europe project INVOLVE, which examine political trust, mistrust, and distrust, as well as their causes and consequences. The results indicate that trust, mistrust, and distrust cannot be reduced to a single underlying concept, with trust and distrust/mistrust crystallising as two separate attitudes. Importantly, they differ in how common predictors relate to them. Distrust appears to be shaped particularly by perceptions of procedural fairness, whereas outcome satisfaction plays a more limited role despite remaining important for explaining political trust. The findings also point to distinct political consequences: a lack of trust is associated with electoral disengagement, while distrust is linked to support for protest parties. In sum: political distrust cannot be equated to a lack of political trust.