 Assessing the Stability of Trust in Government Across Election PeriodsMatthew S. Dabros, Suzanne L. Parker and Mark W. Petersen Social Science Quarterly, 2015, vol. 96, issue 4, 996-1011 Abstract: type="main"> Past research shows that electoral context prompts changes in political trust. In the United States, data limitations confine this literature to status-quo affirming presidential elections. We extend previous research to unexamined contexts: elections with partisan presidential changes, midterm elections with shifts in congressional control, and nonelection periods. Original panel data from 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, and 2012 are used. Data were obtained from surveys administered to students enrolled at a large midwestern university. We compare context effects on trust and other political attitudes, and contrast trust levels among winners and losers in each context. We find that trust is more malleable than most other attitudes in all periods; it is less stable in presidential elections than congressional elections; and there is no evidence of winner and loser effects. Our findings reveal the importance of political context in explaining the stability of trust by showing that trust levels are more changeable in certain contexts than others, specifically more changeable in presidential than in congressional elections. Date: 2015 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:socsci:v:96:y:2015:i:4:p:996-1011 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Social Science Quarterly is currently edited by Robert L. Lineberry More articles in Social Science Quarterly from Southwestern Social Science Association |
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