Young Americans have more trust in Google and Amazon than in most major political institutions, including their local government, the FBI, the Justice Department, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This, according to data released Tuesday from the Harvard Institute of Politics’ spring survey, conducted among 2,631 18-29-year-olds last month.
When asked “How often do you trust each of the following companies to do the right thing?” 45 percent of respondents either said they trust Amazon all of the time or most of the time. That number was 44 percent when it came to Google. Facebook and Twitter scored much lower, with each coming in at 27 percent among respondents who either said they trust the companies all the time or most of the time.
For Congress that number was 17 percent, for the federal government it was 21. Thirty-four percent of young adults surveyed trusted their state government all or most of the time and 38 percent said the same of their local government.
The FBI came in at 42 percent, the DOJ at 35, the Environmental Protection Agency at 38, the Education Department at 29, and ICE at 25. Meanwhile, only 16 percent trusted the media to do the right thing all or most of the time.
Thirty-two percent identified as liberal, 27 percent as moderate, and 24 percent as conservative, though only 29 percent identified themselves as politically engaged or politically active.
Seventy-two percent disapproved of Donald Trump’s performance as president.
The impulse to trust massive corporations more than government institutions seems oddly pro-capitalist for an age cohort that self-identifies as 59 percent liberal or moderate.
