KEY RESULTS
Turnaround: Government regains German confidence in the crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on all areas of people's lives and thus also on their trust in government, business, the media and NGOs. A comparison with the Edelman Trust Barometer 2020 in January shows that the wind has changed and the trust ranking of the institutions has been restructured.
Trust on record levels
Trust of Germans and people worldwide in institutions reaches all-time high since 2012. The German trust index is at 56 (+10 points). Globally it is at 61. (+6 points).
Government is the most trustworthy institution
In times of crisis, Germans trust government the most. In a trust ranking of four institutions – government, business, media and NGOs – government comes out on top. Its ranking has risen by 19% (to 64%) since the crisis began, a high they have not seen since 2012. Following government comes business (56%, +8% pts.), media (53%, +4% pts.) and NGOs (50%, +7% pts.).
Government back in the spotlight
The Germans are demanding the government takes the lead in all areas of pandemic control. Germans are also making further concessions to the government. About three quarters of Germans (72%, global: 73%) say that they consider the pandemic-related restrictions of their freedom of movement to be entirely reasonable and appropriate. More than half are willing to allow their personal health and location information to be tracked by the government more so than they normally would in order to help track and contain the spread of the virus (53%, global: 61%).
CEOs have to demonstrate leadership
Fewer than a quarter of people in Germany believe that CEOs meet the requirements of the COVID-19 pandemic (24%, global: 29%). Half of Germans want CEOs to take the lead on addressing the pandemic (50%, global: 65%).
Click here for the global Trust 2020 website
13,200 respondents
11 markets
Survey period: April 2020
About the Edelman Trust Barometer 2020 Spring Update: Trust and the Covid-19 Pandemic
The Edelman Trust Barometer 2020 Spring Update: Trust and the Covid-19 Pandemic is an update to the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer. The survey was conducted by Edelman Intelligence between 15th and 23rd April and sampled more than 13,200 respondents in 11 markets: Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, S. Korea, U.K. and U.S. 1,200 people were surveyed in each market, put of which 100 were informed public. All informed public respondents met the following criteria: aged 25-64; college educated; household income in the top quartile for their age in their country; read or watch business/news media several times a week; follow public policy issues in the news several times a week.
