The British are becoming more and more confident, but confidence in politicians has dropped from the pandemic

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A surprise at the start of the pandemic was that the peoples increased the will to trust the political authorities. According to the British investigation into social attitudes (BSA), the proportion of people who trust the government ministers increased from 15% in 2019 to 23% in 2020. Ipsos Mori data showed a similar rebound for confidence in government ministers and politicians in 2021. Confidence in government was also an important factor in If people have conformed With locking rules and other restrictions.

Since then, however, the confidence of peoples in the government has dropped. The last BSA investigation notes that in 2023, only 14% of the population said they were still trusting the government or most of the time. 45% of the population of the population of the population almost never does. These are the most negative figures since the BSA began asking about confidence almost four decades ago.

This trigger in trust may not be surprising given the various government's shenanigans in recent years, notably Boris Johnsons Downing Street Lockdown Parties and Liz Trusss Prime Minister Disastrous. However, there is Also evidence The fact that the British has become less confident due to dotted expectations on the advantages of Brexit, negative views of government performance in areas such as health and pressure on the cost of living.

However, while the British are less confident towards those who have a political authority, they seem more confident in each other. In 1999, 29% of the population believed that most people [in Britain] can trust. Four decades later, this proportion increased to 46%Beyond the previous summit of 43% in 1981. This could partly reflect the feeling of collective effort and neighborhood that was instilled during the pandemic, when we were encouraged to monitor and help other people. There is also evidence This, while people see the country as a whole as to become more divided, at the local level, the perceptions of the unity prevail over the perceptions of the division.

This is a welcome change, especially since confidence in other people is associated with a range of positive results, especially Support for international cooperation and international organizations. In an uncertain and dangerous world, social confidence can be an important factor shaping the will of the states to work together.

Well-being of politicians

The decline of popular trust in government and politicians is worrying. Low confidence is associated with support for populist politicians such as Donald Trump And upheavals like Brexit. Low confidence could also considerably compromise public acceptance and compliance with official messages and rules in a future pandemic.

Mistrust can also directly affect public figures. As one of us (James) has shown, politicians are generally bad estimators of public confidence in themselves. But where they perceive Generalized mistrustoften due to repeated experiences of physical abuse and intimidation or online, this has a significant negative effect on their mental health and well-being.

Increased security Around MPS whose cost jumped From 77,234.67 to 4,381,733.40 between 2014 and 2022, it is likely to protect them from the worst excess of public distrust where it takes place in extreme behavior. Still given the Importance of contact for the confidence of peoplesit could also inadvertently feed more cynicism By increasing the physical distance between politicians and the public.

Public publication in respect for politicians and the government should be a source of concern. We are hardly likely to recruit the caliber of the politician we expect (and need), or to encourage a more diverse population of budding representatives, if the personal costs of holding elected functions are so high.

At the same time, an overview of the situation as a whole offers a certain insurance. As one of us (ben) has it recently shownThere is little evidence that low confidence induces popular skepticism towards democracy itself, or that it weakens public support to state spending or government programs in key areas such as health care.

Trust the front line

The nature and strength of British civic ties are revealed not only in our confidence of politicians and institutions, but also in the way we treat people who provide public services, such as police and health workers.

At first glance, the image is not pretty. In recent years, public abuse rates towards front -line service providers have increased. In 2021, 18% of teachers said they had suffered verbal abuses from a parent or caregiver in the past year. In 2023, this figure had reached 30%.

A police investigation in 2022 revealed that 37% had experienced verbal insults At least once a week in the past year. This was an increase compared to the 29% of officers who reported a similar level of insults in 2020, although the figure Fallen slightly in 2023 to 34%.

London ambulance personnel physical violence rates have more than doubled in four years, with 346 incidents recorded in 2019, increasing to 728 incidents in 2023. A similar image of public violence is found for front -line workers in the health service. The survey in 2023 revealed that 85% of general practitioners across the United Kingdom had Received of verbal abuses public members in the past year. An investigation in 2021 of the British Medical Association found more than half of the general practitioners and one doctor of the hospital in five, had suffered a verbal abuse in the past month.

While the majority of British Public Express trust many leading workers such as nurses and doctors (who Currently attract 94% and 88% of trusted dimensions), others seem to have a more negative point of view, even extending to abusive behavior.

Given the range of service providers facing such an increase in antipathy, it seems unlikely that the trigger is the pandemic. Better index is provided by longer -term data on the public processing of doctors.

The answers are to a question of investigation in the last 12 months, have you personally experienced harassment, intimidation or abuse of work with patients, their loved ones or public members?. Author provided, data from the NHS staff survey“Data-crc =” https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/wvmd9mbtbwektljmxaqaew 2mdtopty0ma-/https: //Media.zenfs.com/en/en_the_conversion_464/381e782ab32cfa6935fcd565fa75459b “/>

The figures for the NHS survey show that the abuse rates towards doctors decreased between 2003 and 2011. (The wording of the question of relevant survey changed in 2012, which restricts our ability to compare the most recent data). This was precisely the period when the resources were pumped into the health service and Public satisfaction with regard to the NHS has increased. This suggests that public interactions with workers in front -line services such as doctors are strongly shaped by the quality of the service they face.

Indeed, GPS themselves assign The verbal violence that they and their staff experience people's dissatisfaction with regard to service, including dissatisfaction with access to health services. An underestimated effect of austerity could therefore be an increased frustration of the public towards health workers, which seems to be occasionally extended to pure and simple abuses.

More accessible public services (read: better funded) could reduce a certain negativity towards front -line workers. However, the important task of the reconstruction of peoples' confidence in politicians is particularly given Negative coverage By a large part of the British media, it is likely to be a more delicate task.

This article is republished from The conversation Under a creative communs license. Read it original article.

James Weinberg receives funding from the economic and social research council.

Ben Seyd does not work, consult, does not have or does not receive funding from a company or an organization that would benefit from this article and has not revealed any relevant affiliation beyond their academic appointment.