Lack of trust in institutions and political engagement

Global trends such as decreasing public trust, political polarisation and increasing mis- and disinformation have sparked interest in understanding the impact of a lack of trust on democracies. This paper provides an analysis on the socioeconomic characteristics, perceptions of political voice and forms of political engagement of individuals who express a lack of trust in public institutions, with the objective of understanding the impacts of lack of trust on democratic governance and identifying governments’ actions to engage citizens in policymaking. The paper draws on data from the OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions (OECD Trust Survey), first carried out between November 2021 and March 2022 across 22 OECD countries and can serve as basis for further analysis of data collected through new rounds of the OECD Trust Survey.