political trust
Definition
Political trust refers to the confidence citizens have in their government, encompassing evaluations of technical competence, ethical conduct, and perceived alignment with citizens' best interests. It functions as an evaluative attitude directed toward political actors and institutions, with trust in parties, politicians, and governmental bodies forming a relatively coherent overall construct. Higher political trust is associated with greater civic investment, likelihood to vote, and ideological support for democracy, while low trust is linked to polarization, populism, and extremism. Trust levels are not static: electoral outcomes can shift them, with winners of an election typically showing greater post-election gains than losers, and prior engagement in collective action moderating that shift, particularly when local candidates fail to win their seats.
Sources: Marinthe et al. (2026)
Related Terms
- longitudinal (1 shared article)
- elections (1 shared article)
- collective action (1 shared article)
Applications
Political Trust and Collective Action
Engagement in political collective action interacts with electoral outcomes to shape changes in political trust. Participants who had invested heavily in collective action on behalf of a local candidate who then lost did not experience the post-election increase in political trust observed among other groups. Unsuccessful collective action is associated with reduced political trust, consistent with the view that failed citizen initiatives can weaken belief in the political system's responsiveness.
Sources: Marinthe et al. (2026)
Political Trust and Electoral Outcomes
Elections tend to increase political trust overall, likely because the voting process itself strengthens perceptions of procedural fairness. In the 2024 UK General Election, trust rose significantly among both winners and losers, but the gain was substantially larger for supporters of the winning party, with Labour voters showing a standardised coefficient of .34 compared to .10 among losing-party supporters. This winner-loser gap was absent before the election and became statistically significant only after results were announced.
Sources: Marinthe et al. (2026)
Political Trust and Procedural Justice
Perceptions of procedural justice, understood as the belief that political decisions are made fairly, transparently, and impartially, are identified as a mechanism through which electoral processes increase political trust. Conversely, experiences that undermine those perceptions, such as unsuccessful collective action, are associated with reduced trust, because they erode the sense that the political system is genuinely responsive to citizen input.
Sources: Marinthe et al. (2026)
