Political trust and racial policy preferences

While scholars have studied the causes of declining trust extensively, they have focused far less on its consequences. Since those who distrust the federal government likely distrust Its policies, declining political trust may undermine support for government action. We argue that trust should be influential when individuals are asked to support policies for which they receive little direct benefit yet incur real or perceived costs. As an example, we examine a range of race-targeted policy preferences. Using 1990-94 data, we show that political trust affects support among whites but has no effect on blacks' preferences. As further evidence that trust is activated when perceived policy costs are high, trust affects white parents' support for education quotas but not white nonparents' support.