The Trade-Off Between Political Trust and Political Participation

This article explores the possibility of a trade-off between citizens’ trust in government and their rates of political participation. Trust and political participation are both of interest in political science, but the relationship between the two remains unclear. Drawing on political trust and political participation literature, the article utilises data from rounds 1–9 of the European Social Survey to investigate whether a trade-off between political trust and political participation can be found. The results suggest that although greater trust in government is variably predictive of either higher or lower rates of political participation, rates of participation reach a peak at a particular level of trust, followed by a decline. This drop-off effect suggests that citizens may become complacent and disengaged as they reach high levels of trust. The trust-participation trade-off illustrates one way in which policy choices may have unexpected consequences which policymakers should consider.