Live Poster Session: Zoom Link
Abstract: In other Western nations, much research has been conducted to understand the relationship between governmental trust and political participation. Researchers have identified a negative association between political trust and extra-institutional action as well as a positive association between trust and participation within European political institutions (Kaase, 1999; Hooghe & Marien, 2013). These findings suggest that people in other Western democracies are more likely to engage with institutions that they have faith in, and more likely to engage with politics outside of systems they are disillusioned with. Additional work has tied political trust to party affiliation (Belanger, & Nadeau, 2005) or non-incumbent candidates (Hetherington, 1999), but very little of this literature has focused on citizens of the United States. Political participation is crucial to a functioning democracy, making it worth considering that trust is highly relevant to the success and functioning of governmental institutions. This analysis explores the relationship between government trust and political engagement within and outside of United States political systems in 2020 to see how behavior differs. In this study, both protesting and contacting representatives, forms of intra- and extra-institutional political engagement, were negatively associated with political trust, suggesting that Americans are generally more politically active when they are distrustful. These relationships remained significant even when controlling for factors including income and political affiliation. The discussion will explore the theoretical and political implications of these findings.
Borden-Final-Poster-2