Confidence and Trust in a Polarized America

Abstract

Trust, confidence in the American people, and confidence in the vote count are in peril in the context of a surprising 2016 general election and increasingly polarized society. In an America divided along party lines, having confidence in other people’s political decisions is a rare phenomenon. The backbone of democracy depends upon the people’s ability to have confidence in other people and confidence in the institutions which run the country. However, little is known about what influences confidence in the American people and confidence in the vote count. Does a person’s worldview, that other people can be trusted in general, influence whether someone has confidence in other Americans? Or does the winning an election influence people’s confidence in others? In this paper, I analyze three important concepts related to the health of American democracy: confidence in other Americans in making decisions about the country, confidence in the vote count, and general trust. In understanding these three concepts in the context of a highly polarized America, scholars can assess the health of the American democracy.