Morality‑Trust Gap

People’s judgment that their fellow citizens are ‘moral’ can be sharply different from whether they actually trust them; cross‑national survey comparisons (Pew morality question vs. World Values Survey trust question) show these are distinct attitudes and sometimes move in opposite directions. In the U.S. this produces a unique combination: relatively low ratings of fellow citizens’ morality alongside longstanding debates about trust and civic cohesion. — Recognizing the Morality‑Trust Gap reframes debates blaming diversity or multiculturalism for civic distrust and redirects policy attention toward what actually builds generalized trust.