It wasn't always this way, according to this in-depth polling analysis by Pew [1]. Interesting cross-country polling seems to suggest distrust in government is

It wasn't always this way, according to this in-depth polling analysis by Pew [1]. Interesting cross-country polling seems to suggest distrust in government is loosely linked to distrust in others, and linked to inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient; there might be a social cohesion metric buried somewhere in those findings [2]. [1] http://www.people-press.org/2015/11/23/beyond-distrust-how-americans-view-their-government/ http://www.people-press.org/2015/11/23/beyond-distrust-how-a... [2] https://ourworldindata.org/trust#cross-country-surveys https://ourworldindata.org/trust#cross-country-surveys