Despite a slight recovery, Germans are pessimistic about the future.
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Negative prospects: Majority of people question the capitalist system.
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Trust gap at a high level worldwide, with a big difference between the informed and the general public.
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Slightly positive overall trend nevertheless: Confidence in institutions is rising in Germany (+ two index points) and worldwide (+ one index point).
The population's trust in social institutions is currently in a precarious situation. Although trust is growing slightly both in Germany and globally, people are looking rather pessimistically to the future. Additionally, the gap between the trust held by the informed public and that of the general public is wide. The difference in Germany in 2020 is 20 index points. This is shown by the current data of the 20th Edelman Trust Barometer. Edelman surveyed over 34,000 people in 28 markets on trust.
Overall, Germans still do not trust institutions ("distrust area" in Trust Score below 49 percent) and only rank 19 out of 28 markets in the global trust ranking. In Germany, trust climbed from 44 index points in 2019 to 46 index points in 2020. The most trustworthy institutions in this country are the media (49%, +5% pts.), ahead of business (48%, +1% pts.), government (45%, +5% pts.) and NGOs (43%, -1% pts.). Globally, confidence in the same four institutions in 2020 is 54 index points, an increase of one index point from 2019.
"While it is gratifying to note that the confidence of the population as a whole has recovered slightly in Germany, in an international comparison, 46 index points are not a good result. The pressure on institutions is increasing – especially when you look at Germans' attitude towards the future. Companies must see the clear signal as motivation to continue working on trust," says Christiane Schulz, CEO of Edelman Germany.
People doubt the system
After all, only 23 percent of Germans are optimistic about their economic future. This ranks Germany as the third-most pessimistic country after Japan (15 percent) and France (19 percent). People doubt the system. Only 12 percent of German respondents (18 percent globally) say that the current system works for them, while 55 percent (56 percent globally) think that capitalism in its current form does more harm than good.
"People are still looking for answers to the climate crisis, technological change and politically turbulent phases. Most recently, they have been particularly demanding that companies do their part. But because the economy has not yet provided sufficient answers, more and more people are questioning the capitalist system itself," says Christiane Schulz.
Big gap between the informed and the broader public
The Trust Barometer 2020 shows that the trust gap between the informed and general public is enormous – the difference has never been greater in so many markets. While the trust the informed public have is 65 points globally, the trust of the general public is 14 points lower (51 points). In Germany, there is a massive difference of 20 points (informed public 64 points vs. general public 44 points; see chart in appendix).
Institutions must cooperate more closely
The fact is, a single institution cannot change the course of trust on its own. Rather, cooperation is required. The results make it clear that companies should take on a stronger role and be a catalyst for change. "Movements such as the Greta Phenomenon,” (after environmental activist Greta Thunberg) “whose social demands are clearly also directed at companies, will be more frequent in the future. In my view, companies must increasingly be able to identify such concerns and movements and incorporate them into their corporate and communication strategies. Only then can they act appropriately," says Christiane Schulz.
About the Edelman Trust Barometer
The Edelman Trust Barometer is an annual study on trust in governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), business and the media, and was conducted for the 20th time this year. The survey was developed by market-research company Edelman Intelligence and the data collection was carried out by means of 30-minute online interviews. The survey period was between 19th October and18th November 2019. 34,000 people were surveyed in 28 markets for the Edelman Trust Barometer 2020, including 6,200 from the informed public (people aged 25 to 64 with a university degree, an above-average household income (in the top 25 percent) and high media and information consumption). Further information can be found here.
Press Contact
Fabiola Lübbert
E-Mail: Presse-DE@edelman.com
Tel.: +49 (0)221 828281-33
