RACE AND TRUST IN GOVERNMENT: TESTING THE POLITICAL REALITY MODEL

Abstract

Ever since the Institute for Social Research began measuring political trust more than twenty years ago, racial differences have been noted. Since 1968 blacks have been notably less trusting than whites. The explanation most commonly offered is the political reality model. This note directly tests the political reality model by comparing the relationship of race to trust in two settings. One is the nation in 1984 and the second is a city where a black mayor and black administration had been in office for eight years. If the political reality model is correct, the relationship of being black to trust should be positive in the local setting, precisely the opposite of the negative direction in national samples. The political reality model performed well under this direct comparison. As others have found, the CPS trust questions measure in large part one's evaluation of incumbents. These incumbent evaluations are part of the political reality that blacks respond to in answering the trust questions.