Mark John

(Reuters.) – The handling of pandemics and widespread economic pessimism has led to a decline in public trust in world democracies.

In contrast, the Edelman Trust Barometer has shown rising trust scores in many autocratic countries, including China, over two decades of polling thousands of people about their faith in media and government.

It was also clear that, due to its roles in the development of vaccines and adapting workplace/retail practices to them, business has maintained high levels of trust worldwide, although it had reservations about its commitment towards social fairness.

Richard Edelman from Edelman communications published the study of nearly 36,000 participants in 28 countries. It was conducted between Nov. 1-23 of this year.

It all comes down to “Do you feel economically confident?” He noted high concern over job losses due to either the automation pandemic, or both.

In the United States, the largest losers in public trust were 43 institutions (-6), Australia (-6), Australia (57) (-6), South Korea (42 (-5)), and the Netherlands (57 (-6).

It was 83% for China, up 11 points; 76% in United Arab Emirates (+9), and 66% respectively in Thailand (+5).

Survey results suggested that the trillions of dollars in stimulus spending by world’s wealthiest nations to help their economies recover from the pandemic has not resulted in a sense of lasting confidence.

Japan had only 15% confidence that their family would be better off within five years. The same question was asked in other democracies, which ranged from 20-40%.

Nearly two-thirds of Chinese were positive about their economic fortunes, and almost 80% believed that they would be more prosperous in the next five years.

Edelman stated that higher levels of public trust in China are not only linked to China’s economic perceptions, but also to greater predictability regarding Chinese policies, including the pandemic.

“I believe that there is a coherence among what is done, and what is spoken… They have had better COVIDs than the US for instance.”

The Reuters pandemic tracker shows that the United States is currently leading the world with the average daily number of deaths. However, China reports no deaths since months due to its strict policies.

https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countries-and-territories/united-states

Edelman’s latest survey results are consistent with previous years’ findings that showed growing disillusionment about capitalism, politics and the media.

Globally, three quarters of the respondents were concerned about fake news being used as a weapon. Climate change was the second most significant concern among societal concerns, after loss of job.

It is still a burden on business leaders to meet expectations. A strong majority of respondents said they purchased goods and accepted jobs offers. They also believe that investing in businesses will help them achieve their goals.

However, around two-fifths also stated that businesses were not doing enough for climate change and economic inequality, as well as workforce reskilling.