7 Interesting Statistics About Trust From The Latest AP Survey Of Americans

Recently, the Associated Press (AP) released the results of its latest survey about selected institutions Americans trust, or don't trust. The Associated Press-GfK survey was conducted October 3-7, 2013 by GfK Public Affairs & Corporate Communications, a division of GfK Custom Research North America. The poll included a national, representative sample of 1,227 persona ages 18 or older.

If you use social networking websites (e.g., Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, SnapChat, etc.), you will want to pay special attention to item #5 below. The survey asked participants to state how much they trust other people in certain situations. That trust level could be "a great deal," "quite a bit," "not too much, and "not at all." Key survey results:

1. 81 percent of survey respondents trust only some of the time the government in Washington, DC to do what is right only some of the time. Only 2 percent trust Washington all of the time.
2. 50 percent of survey respondents trust "a great deal" or "quite a bit" people who handle their medical records at a hospital or doctor's office
3. 47 percent of survey respondents trust "a great deal" or "quite a bit" people who prepare their food when they eat out in restaurants
4. 41 percent of survey respondents trust "a great deal" or "quite a bit" people they hired to come into their homes to do work
5. 38 percent of survey respondents trust "a great deal" or "quite a bit" people who they have shared photos, videos, and other information with at social networking websites
6. 30 percent of survey respondents trust "a great deal" or "quite a bit" people who swiped their debit/credit cards when making a purchase in retail stores
7. 21 percent of survey respondents trust "a great deal" or "quite a bit" other automobile drivers when they are driving, walking, or bicycling

Item number five makes one wonder why so many people use social networking websites when so few trust the "friends" they are connected with. Very interesting. Maybe, Americans are just a mistrustful and wary bunch. Or maybe, we've been burned previously by people or companies that abused their trust.

Some descriptive information about the survey participants:

• 46 percent live in the suburbs, 26 percent in urban areas, and 25 percent in rural areas
• 83 percent reported that they have health care insurance: private or public. Of those that have health care insurance, 54 percent have it through an employer, 21 percent through Medicare, 7 percent through Medicaid, 6 percent through private insurance they purchased on their own, and 11 percent through "something else"
• 34 percent reported that somebody in their household owns a gun
• 49 percent reported that they work as employees, 18 percent are retired, 9 percent are unemployed and looking for work, 7 percent are self-employed, 6 percent are disabled, and 1 percent are temporarily laid off from a job

Trust questions the survey didn't ask which I wish it had asked:

• How much would you trust other people at banks to protect your financial information and provide unbiased answers to your questions?
• How much would you trust other people at Internet service providers (ISP's) to protect your personal information?
• How much would you trust other people at credit monitoring agencies to protect your credit reports and provide accurate information?
• How much would you trust other people at software companies to provide effective anti-virus solutions that protect your computers and mobile devices?
• How much would you trust other people at telephone and telecommunications companies to protect your sensitive phone call and geo-location information?
• How much would you trust other people at companies to provide complete and accurate policy statements (e.g., terms of usage, privacy) about their websites or mobile apps?
• How much do you trust other people to use wearable computers (e.g., Google Glass) with maturity and respect for your privacy?
• How much would you trust other people at retail websites to deliver your purchases via drones to your home?

Learn more about AP-GfK surveys, or download the AP-GfK survey results (Adobe PDF).