China bucks trend toward distrust of govts, survey finds

Trust in governments, companies and the media plunged last year as ballots from theUnited States to the United Kingdom to the Philippines rocked political establishments and scandals hit business.

But as the first Chinese president to attend theWorld EconomicForuminDavos, Xi Jinping may be reassured to learn that his government was ranked as the most trusted, with a 76 percent rating among those questioned.

The 3,000 business, political and academic leaders meeting in the Swiss Alps this week find themselves increasingly out of step with many voters and populist leaders around the world who distrust elites.

Governments and the media are now trusted by only 41and43percent of people respectively, with confidence in news outlets down particularly sharply after a year in which “post-truth” became the Oxford Dictionary’sWord of the Year.

Trustinbusinesswasslightly higher, at 52 percent, but it too has declined amid scandals, including Volkswagen’s rigged diesel-emission tests and Samsung Electronics’ fire-prone smartphones.

The credibility of chief executiveshasfallenineverycountry surveyed, reachingalowof 18 percent in Japan, while the Germanfigurewas28percent and theUS 38 percent.

Trust in governments fell in 14 of the countries surveyed, with South Africa ranked bottom with just 15 percent support.

The annual survey, which has been running since 2001, took the opinions of 33,000 people in 28 countries from Oct 13 toNov 16.

Half the people who are high-income, college-educated and wellinformed also believe the system doesn’t work.”

head of Edelman, a communications marketing firm

Richard Edelman,

The majority of people now believe the economic and political system is failing them, according to the annual Edelman Trust Barometer, released onMonday ahead of theWorld Economic Forum.

“There’s a sense that the system is broken,” said Richard Edelman, head of the communications marketing company.

“The most shocking statistic of this whole study is that half the people who are highincome, college-educated and well-informed also believe the system doesn’t work.”