Less than Half of Americans Trust Business "to do the Right Thing"

A strong level of trust with customers is going to prove hugely important for recovering businesses when the pandemic finally comes to an end (or at least progresses to a stage closer to normality). As Statista’s Martin Armstrong details below, a survey by Edelman Research polled 36,000 respondents in 28 countries about their trust in business to “do the right thing” in November 2021.

The research found that people in China, Indonesia and India have the highest trust at 84%, 81% and 79%, respectively.

The figure was far lower in the United States at 49% while it was lower still in Russia at just 34%. In all, eleven countries saw an increase in trust in business, while eleven recorded a decrease. Interestingly, business is trusted more than government in 23 out of the 28 countries surveyed. Average trust in business globally was 61%, compared to 52% in government.

Tech, pharma and car companies were the only organizations in 2021 with a net positive trustworthiness rating worldwide. 34, 31 and 27% of participants in the annual Ipsos Global Trustworthiness Monitor deemed these types of corporations to be deserving of their trust. As our chart shows, governments, media companies and social media corporations have the worst trust-to-mistrust ratio of all sectors.

The positive attitude towards pharmaceutical companies, which gained six percent on the results of 2018, can be explained with the handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the rapid and effective production of vaccines, although the decision to not lift patent restrictions on illness-preventing and potentially life-saving inoculations has come under scrutiny by activists and medical professionals over the past years. We wonder what will happen to this pharma cred now that vaccines are failing to live up to their promises?

The banking sector managed to gain even more ground with an increase of 8% to a total of 28% deeming banks trustworthy, with 62% of Chinese respondents claiming banking organizations can be trusted. This is contrasted by 32% of respondents claiming to not trust banking companies, netting the sector fifth place when viewed through the lens of the most untrustworthy organization types. Mistrust in the media and social media companies has potentially been exacerbated by the coverage of the pandemic and, in the case of social media giant Meta, the scandal surrounding whistleblower Frances Haugen furthering calls for regulation of Big Tech due to its negative influence on its users.

It’s not just business, Statista’s Martin Armstrong took a look at the global levels of trust in government. When Joe Biden moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, one of his administration’s most important promises was to bolster trust in the American government and the healing of social divisions. Unfortunately, as his approval rating has collapsed, along with distrust inside of government, the nation is more divided than ever though, and a new survey has found that a mere 39% of the US public trusted the government in late 2021—a 3 percentage point decrease on 2020.

The findings come from Edelman Research’s latest Trust Barometer which polled 36,000 people in 28 countries about their trust in various institutions in November 2021. The US figure is far lower than many other countries, with trust in government in Canada and Australia standing at 53% and 52%, respectively. It is also slightly lower than the UK where the government’s Brexit strategy has proven highly controversial with public approval of the institution 42% in late 2021.

Some of the highest levels of trust in government were seen in Asia where 91% of Chinese respondents said they had trust, along with 82% of people polled in Saudi Arabia and 74% in India. The lowest rating was found in Argentina, where just 22% of respondents said they trusted their government there.

While the share of respondents mistrusting government and media might seem high, they have been largely consistent with minor swings over the years according to Ipsos experts. Since its initial run in 2018, the Ipsos Global Trustworthiness Monitor aims to dispel the idea that general trust in institutions and organizations is in crisis by surveying more than 20,000 adults in over 20 countries per year.

Featured image: In the midst of the pandemic, trust in business and government have fallen among the US population. Photo: Nurphoto via Getty Images

(Zero Hedge) by Tyler Durden