{"id":10443,"date":"2019-08-06T07:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-08-06T12:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/young-americans-are-less-trusting-of-other-people-and-key-institutions-than-their-elders\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T01:19:19","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T06:19:19","slug":"young-americans-are-less-trusting-of-other-people-and-key-institutions-than-their-elders","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2019\/08\/06\/young-americans-are-less-trusting-of-other-people-and-key-institutions-than-their-elders\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Americans are less trusting of other people \u2013 and key institutions \u2013 than their elders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Americans believe trust has declined in their country, whether it involves their fellow citizens\u2019 faith in each other or their confidence in the federal government, according to a wide-ranging new Pew Research Center survey<\/a>. And adults ages 18 to 29 stand out for their comparatively low levels of trust in a number of these areas.<\/p>\n\n

Around three-quarters (73%) of U.S. adults under 30 believe people \u201cjust look out for themselves\u201d most of the time. A similar share (71%) say most people \u201cwould try to take advantage of you if they got a chance,\u201d and six-in-ten say most people \u201ccan\u2019t be trusted.\u201d Across all three of these questions, adults under 30 are significantly more likely than their older counterparts to take a pessimistic view of their fellow Americans.<\/p>\n\n

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All told, nearly half of young adults (46%) are what the Center\u2019s report defines as \u201clow trusters\u201d \u2013 people who, compared with other Americans, are more likely to see others as selfish, exploitative and untrustworthy, rather than helpful, fair and trustworthy. Older Americans are less likely to be low trusters. For example, just 19% of adults ages 65 and older fall into this category, according to the survey, which was conducted in late 2018 among 10,618 U.S. adults. (You can read more here<\/a> about how the study grouped Americans into low, medium and high trust categories.)<\/p>\n\n

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Young adults also express less confidence in their fellow citizens to act in certain civically minded ways. Only around a third of young Americans (35%) say they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in the American people to respect the rights of those who are not like them \u2013 about half the share of adults 65 and older who say this (67%).<\/p>\n\n

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