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The Trust Gap

Where Distrust Is a Problem, Where It’s Not, and Why That Matters

Aaron Martin (University of Melbourne)

$176.95

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English
Bristol University Press
05 May 2026
This book poses a straightforward set of questions: What is happening to trust in our democracies? Where is it faltering and where is it stable? And among which groups is this taking place? To answer these, the book assesses the state of trust in established democracies in the twenty-first century.

It looks beyond political trust in government to examine confidence in a wide range of institutions, including courts, universities and the media. This broader view reveals not a uniform collapse but a patchwork of outcomes. In many places, citizens still report moderate or high trust in government, while confidence in other institutions often remains strong.

The findings challenge crisis-driven narratives. While trust has eroded in some nations, especially the United States, in many others it has stayed steady for decades. This book invites readers to move beyond the drama of crisis narratives and towards a richer reality in which trust is not vanishing wholesale, but shifting unevenly across countries and institutions.
By:  
Imprint:   Bristol University Press
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 234mm,  Width: 156mm, 
ISBN:   9781529255591
ISBN 10:   1529255597
Pages:   166
Publication Date:  
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Further / Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Introduction: Dissecting the ‘Crisis Of Trust’ 1. Why Institutional Trust Matters 2. Trust Gap One: Who We Trust and Who We Don’t Chapter3 3. Trust Gap Two: Who Trusts? 4. Trust Gap Three: How High Trust Countries Make Policy Work 5. Trust Gap Four: Trust in the Media Versus Trust in Experts 6. Bridging Trust Gaps

Aaron Martin is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of two books, Young People and Politics and, with Keith Dowding, Policy Agendas in Australia, and has published widely on public opinion and political behaviour.

Reviews for The Trust Gap: Where Distrust Is a Problem, Where It’s Not, and Why That Matters

""Far from institutional trust being in free-fall, The Trust Gap highlights that in fact there are substantial contrasts in trends both within and across long-established democracies like Spain and Sweden, or the US and Canada. The book provides a useful corrective to the tabloid headlines and uses systematic survey data to explore the reasons behind varying patterns, including the role of institutional performance. An accessible and readable study, this will be invaluable for researchers, scholars and policymakers."" Pippa Norris, Harvard University ""A smart, mythbusting look at trust today, showing where confidence really holds up and what that means for healthy democracies."" Andrew Leigh, Australian MP and author of 'The Shortest History of Economics' “In this must-read book, Martin provides the freshest take that I’ve seen on political trust in decades.” Marc Hetherington, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


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