Chinese people trust their government, media the most, global survey finds

Believe it or not?

Public trust in institutions has crashed dramatically in the United States, while rising to world-high levels in China, according to a new global survey of 27 countries and territories.

The 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer found that the average rate of trust in institutions among the general population in China is 74%, the highest among countries surveyed and up 7 percentage points from last year.

It’s also significantly higher than the global average of 48% or of countries like the United States (43%), Japan (37%), and Russia (36%).

Broken down further, that difference becomes even more dramatic as 84% of Chinese polled professed trust in their government and 71% in their media, both world-highs.

That’s compared to the US, which has seen public trust in the government plummet down 14 percentage points to 33%, while the American media did only a bit better at 42%.

When asked which institution was the most broken (government, media, business, or NGOs), 59% of Americans answered the government, while only 10% of Chinese did the same.

Meanwhile, when questioned about which institution is most likely to lead to a better future, an overwhelming 68% of Chinese responded with the government, while just 15% of Americans professed having that same faith.

An American public relations and marketing consulting firm, Edelman began its annual global trust report in 2001. For this edition, over 33,000 respondents were surveyed online in 28 countries around the globe.

The results of the survey have been trumpeted on Chinese state media, however, how much stock you put in them will likely have a lot to do with much you trust public survey data that comes out of China.

During a lively debate last week that was hosted by the South China Morning Post, Chinese venture capitalist and exceptionalist Eric X. Li made the point that China always comes out looking like an exceedingly joyful, upbeat place on public surveys.

“You can’t find one credible public survey data that says the Chinese are not happy, or not optimistic about the future. It’s the complete opposite. This is the most optimistic people on Earth,” Li declared.

“If you believe public survey data out of China, yes,” laughed his opponent longtime Washington Post foreign correspondent Keith Richburg.

“I don’t… I don’t know,” Li stuttered back. “Well, maybe I don’t, but I don’t know what else to believe. You have to base your judgement on something.”

The exchange noted above starts at around 4:28.

This follows right on the heels of another global survey which ranked China 192nd in the world in terms of electoral freedom, placing it behind even North Korea, 7th from the bottom.

Unfortunately, Edelman did not include the DPRK in its survey of how much citizens trust their government and media, perhaps then China would have been knocked from the top spot.