Govt winning Kiwis’ trust, says survey

Unexpected results of research buck trend of decline seen in other countries

Kiwis trust the Government more than they do churches and charities, new research shows. A Colmar Brunton survey asked 1000 people across the country how much they trusted groups such as government ministers, police, medical practitioners, churches, charities, small businesses, the media, and bloggers.

Asked whether they trusted the Government to do what was right for New Zealand, 65 per cent answered yes, compared with 48 per cent in 2016.

A total of 59 per cent trusted the Government to deal successfully with national problems, up from 47 per cent in 2016, and 49 per cent thought citizens’ interests were equally and fairly considered by the Government, up from 39 per cent.

“This large boost in trust surrounding government was unexpected and really positive,” said Dr Simon Chapple, director of Victoria University of Wellington’s Institute for Governance and Policy studies, which commissioned the research.

“In other countries we are seeing a decline in trust in democratic political institutions, so it’s interesting that we seem to be going in the other direction. The test will be whether those levels of trust can be sustained.”

Chapple noted trust in the police and courts was also significantly up.

“On the downside, there was a statistically significant decline in trust in both churches and charities. Trust in other social institutions was broadly stable.”

The data also pointed to differences in overall trust levels across age groups, with older people being more trusting.

Of those aged 60 or older, 62 per cent reported a high level of trust generally in people, compared with 38 per cent high trust in the 18-29 year old group, and 44 per cent for those aged 30 to 59.

“It is unclear if we observe this pattern because people trust more as they age or whether younger people today are generally less trusting than young people a generation ago.”

The interviews were conducted between February 26 and March 4, with respondents aged 18 or over.

The executive summary and overview of results are available online.