Trust in government is essential to democratic practice. This article analyzed the factors shaping trust in the federal government using a survey of 260 Mexican immigrants living in rural Illinois and in-depth interviews with 32 participants. To analyze these data, we drew a distinction between support for the regime (system of government that is relatively stable in a political system) and support for authorities (those who temporarily occupy positions of power) to test whether regime or authorities’ considerations shaped respondents’ political trust. The results showed that both considerations influenced trust in the federal government. We also found that a perception of current leaders as being concerned with issues affecting Latinos and an increased optimism about the economic situation were key determinants in explaining trust in the federal government. Further, our in-depth interviews showed that respondents thought about economic issues, immigration, and overall assessments of the Obama administration when determining their level of trust in the federal government.
AbrajanoM.AlvarezM. (2010). Assessing the causes and effects of political trust among U.S. Latinos. American Politics Research, 38, 110-141.
2.
AlfordJ. (2001). We’re all in this together: The decline of trust in government, 1958-1996. In HibbingJ.Theiss-MorseE. (Eds.), What is it about government that Americans dislike? (pp. 205-216). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
3.
BarretoM. A.SeguraG. M.WoodsN. D. (2004). The mobilizing effect of majority-minority districts on Latino turnout. American Political Science Review, 98, 65-75.
4.
BjørnskovC. (2006). Determinants of generalized trust: A cross-country comparison. Public Choice, 130, 1-21.
5.
BlendonR. J.BensonJ. M.MorinR.AltmanD. E.BrodieM.BrossardM.JamesM. (1997). Changing attitudes in America. In NyeJ. S.ZelikowP. D.KingD. C. (Eds.), Why people don’t trust government (pp. 205-216). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
6.
BonnerD. E. (2009). A comprehensive examination of the determinants and consequences of political trust among Latinos (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of New Orleans, LA.
7.
BowlerS.KarpJ. A. (2004). Politicians, scandals, and trust in government. Political Behavior, 26, 271-287.
8.
BrehmJ.RahnW. (1997). Individual-level evidence for the causes and consequences of social capital. American Journal of Political Science, 41, 999-1023.
9.
CatterbergG.MorenoA. (2006). The individual bases of political trust: Trends in new and established democracies. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 18, 31-48.
10.
ChanleyV. A.RudolphT. J.RahnW. M. (2000). The origins and consequences of public trust in government: A time series analysis. Public Opinion Quarterly, 64, 239-256.
11.
CitrinJ. (1974). Comment: The political relevance of trust in government. American Political Science Review, 68, 973-988.
12.
CitrinJ.GreenD. P. (1986). Presidential leadership and the resurgence of trust in government. British Journal of Political Science, 16, 431-453.
13.
CorreiaM. E. (2010). Determinants of attitudes toward police of Latino immigrants and non-immigrants. Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 99-107.
14.
DahlR. A. (1971). Polyarchy: Participation and opposition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
15.
de la GarzaR. O. (2004). Latino politics. Annual Review of Political Science, 7, 91-123.
16.
de la GarzaR. O.CortinaJ. (2007). Are Latinos republicans but just don’t know it? The Latino vote in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. American Politics Research, 35, 202-223.
17.
de la GarzaR. O.DeSipioL.GarciaF. C.GarciaJ.FalconA.GarciaF. C. (1992). Latino voices: Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban perspectives on American politics. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
18.
EastonD. (1965). A systems analysis of political life. New York, NY: John Wiley.
19.
FennemaM.TillieJ. (1999). Political participation and political trust in Amsterdam: Civic communities and ethnic networks. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 25, 703-726.
20.
FukuyamaF. (1995). Trust: The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. New York, NY: Free Press.
21.
GarciaJ. A. (2011). Latino politics in America: Community, culture, and interests. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
22.
GershtensonJ.PlaneD. L. (2012). An alternative measure of political trust: Reconciling theory and practice. In AldrichJ. H.McGrawK. M. (Eds.), Improving public opinion surveys: Interdisciplinary innovation and the American National Election Studies (pp. 117-136). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
23.
HardinR. (2006). Trust. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
24.
HerrerosF. (2004). The problem of forming social capital: Why trust?London, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
25.
HetheringtonM. J. (1998). The political relevance of political trust. American Political Science Review, 92, 791-808.
26.
HetheringtonM. J. (1999). The effect of political trust on the presidential vote, 1968–96. American Political Science Review, 93, 311-326.
27.
HetheringtonM. J.HusserJ. A. (2012). How trust matters: The changing political relevance of political trust. American Journal of Political Science, 56, 312-325.
28.
HibbingJ. R.PattersonS. C. (1994). Public trust in the new parliaments of Central and Eastern Europe. Political Studies, 42, 570-592.
29.
HibbingJ. R.Theiss-MorseE. (1995). Congress as public enemy: Public attitudes toward American political institutions. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
30.
HibbingJ. R.Theiss-MorseE. (2002). Stealth democracy: Americans’ beliefs about how government should work. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
31.
JacksonR. A. (2009). Latino political connectedness and electoral participation. Journal of Political Marketing, 8, 233-262.
32.
KimJ. Y. (2005). “Bowling together” isn’t a cure-all: The relationship between social capital and political trust in South Korea. International Political Science Review, 26, 193-213.
33.
KnackS.KeeferP. (1997). Does social capital have an economic payoff? A cross-country investigation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112, 1251-1288.
34.
LaneR. E. (1965). The politics of consensus in an age of affluence. American Political Science Review, 59, 874-895.
35.
LealD. L. (2002). Political participation by Latino non-citizens in the United States. British Journal of Political Science, 32, 353-370.
36.
LeviM.StokerL. (2000). Political trust and trustworthiness. Annual Review of Political Science, 3, 475-507.
37.
LipsetS. M. (1987). The confidence gap: Business, labor, and government in the public mind. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
38.
LopezM. H. (2008). The Hispanic vote in the 2008 election. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.
39.
MaloyJ. S. (2009). Two concepts of trust. The Journal of Politics, 71, 492-505.
40.
MichelsonM. R. (2001). Political trust among Chicago Latinos. Journal of Urban Affairs, 23, 323-334.
41.
MichelsonM. R. (2003). The corrosive effect of acculturation: How Mexican Americans lose political trust. Social Science Quarterly, 84, 918-933.
42.
MichelsonM. R. (2007). All roads lead to rust: How acculturation erodes Latino immigrant trust in government. Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, 32, 21-46.
43.
MillerA. H. (1974a). Political issues and trust in government: 1964–1970. American Political Science Review, 68, 951-972.
44.
MillerA. H. (1974b). Rejoinder to “comment” by Jack Citrin: Political discontent or ritualism?American Political Science Review, 68, 989-1001.
45.
MillerA. H.ListhaugO. (1990). Political parties and confidence in government: A comparison of Norway, Sweden and the United States. British Journal of Political Science, 20, 357-386.
46.
MishlerW.RoseR. (2001). What are the origins of political trust? Testing institutional and cultural theories in post-communist societies. Comparative Political Studies, 34, 30-62.
47.
MullerE. N.JukamT. O.SeligsonM. A. (1982). Diffuse political support and antisystem political behavior: A comparative analysis. American Journal of Political Science, 26, 240-264.
48.
NannestadP. (2008). What have we learned about generalized trust, if anything?Annual Review of Political Science, 11, 413-436.
49.
NewtonK. (2001). Trust, social capital, civil society, and democracy. International Political Science Review, 22, 201-214.
50.
NyeJ. S.ZelikowP.KingD. C. (Eds.). (1997). Why people don’t trust government. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
51.
PutnamR. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
52.
PutnamR. D.LeonardiR.NanettiR. Y. (1993). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
53.
SchildkrautD. J. (2005). The rise and fall of political engagement among Latinos: The role of identity and perceptions of discrimination. Political Behavior, 27, 285-312.
54.
SeligsonM. A. (1983). On the measurement of diffuse support: Some evidence from Mexico. Social Indicators Research, 12, 1-24.
55.
SierraC. M.CarrilloT.DeSipioL.Jones-CorreaM. (2000). Latino immigration and citizenship. Political Science & Politics, 33, 535-540.
56.
U.S. Census Bureau (2011). The Hispanic Population: 2010. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov.
UslanerE. M. (2002). The moral foundations of trust. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
59.
WalsS. C. (2011). Does what happens in Los Mochis stay in Los Mochis? Explaining post migration political behavior. Political Research Quarterly, 64, 600-611.
60.
WalsS. C. (2013). Made in the USA? Immigrants’ importuned ideology and political engagement. Electoral Studies, 32, 756-767.
61.
WamplerB.ChavezM.PedrazaF.I. (2009). Should I stay or should I go? Explaining why most Mexican immigrants are choosing to remain permanently in the United States. Latino Studies, 7, 83-104.
62.
WenzelJ. P. (2006). Acculturation effects on trust in national and local government among Mexican Americans. Social Science Quarterly, 87, 1073-1087.
