People’s trust in government and the media is on a downwards slide

Today, PR firm Edelman launched the 14^th annual Trust Barometer which explores levels of trust across 27 markets, and 33,000 people. Key findings this year include:

• There’s a growing trust gap between government and business. Trust in government has dropped from 47 per cent to 42 per cent. Half of British people say they have less belief in government doing the right thing than last year. A similar proportion (52 per cent) credit Britain’s business community, not its politicians, for recent improvements in the economy. Only 25 per cent of respondents thought government was responsible for any recovery.

• Trust in the media, which had staged a comeback from an all-time low of 22 per cent around the time of the phone-hacking scandal, to register 47 per cent in 2013, has dropped back to 41 per cent in the latest figures.

• More than 60 per cent of those who say they trust the media less now than they did last year, ascribe their opinion to either immoral behaviour or a lack of regulation.

• Consumers are not confident about their own standard of living in 2014, with just 12 per cent expecting to be better off, while more than in eight in ten (82 per cent) said they will have the same or a lower standard of living.

• Two-thirds of voters would like to see a return to a single-party government in the next general election. Just one in five of those surveyed said they would favour a coalition government, with 65 per cent saying they would prefer a single party to be in charge.

You can find the UK data and UK release here along with a link to the global story.