How Perceived Trust from the State Influences Citizens’ Political Trust

For decades, scholars have debated the decline in political trust as both an indicator and a driver of democratic crisis and civic disengagement. The focus of this previous research has been primarily on how political trust can be bolstered or maintained. Drawing on research from interpersonal and organizational mutual trust, we argue, however, that political trust is not only influenced by governmental actions and policies but also by the extent to which citizens perceive that the state trusts them. Hence, we distinguish between state trust—the trust the state expresses toward its citizens—and perceived trust from the state—citizens’ perception of being trusted, which can be inferred from political communication and measures. In two pre-registered studies in Germany (N = 200, Mage = 30.70, SD = 10.52) and Canada (N = 256, Mage = 36.68, SD = 11.87), we investigated citizens' perception of being trusted by the state within a post-pandemic scenario. Our findings show that perceived trust from the state indeed mediates the relationship between state trust and political trust. Implications of these findings for trust research are discussed.