Low Trust in Politics, Lack of Participation

Trust in politics and political participation are unevenly distributed in Germany. Our analysis of the ALLBUS population survey (General Population Survey of the Social Sciences) shows that unemployed people and people with experience of unemployment (compared to employed people and people without experience of unemployment) are more distrustful of political institutions and politicians and less interested in voting. 

But why this democratic withdrawal? On the one hand, people who have experienced unemployment tend to have a lower educational status or lower income – factors that are in turn associated with low political trust. On the other hand, our analyses of the ALLBUS data provide insight into the role of unemployment experience itself – beyond the influence of education or income.