TRUST GAP, 2012-21 Average trust gap between informed public and mass public in four key institutions: business, media, government, and non-governmental organizations. Percent trust gap 20 Informed Public: College-educated 35-64 year-olds in the top 25 percent of household income and report significant media consumption and public engagement. 15 Mass Public: All population not including informed public. 10 5 Source: Richard Edelman, Twenty Years of Trust, 2020. 0 2012 13 14 2015 16 17 18 19 2020 21 income in each market, and exhibit signi昀椀cant dence in government, and people tend media consumption—has risen during the to trust informal institutions more than past 20 years whereas more than half of the government where political power is mass public during the past decade repeat- concentrated among the wealthy elite. edly say the “system” is failing them. The gap Corruption is now one of the most dom- in trust in institutions between the informed inant factors driving demand for politi- public and the mass public has increased cal change. According to 2019 polling by during the past decade, according to the Transparency International, a majority Edelman surveys, showing a gap of 5 percent- of respondents across Latin America age points in 2012 and 16 points in the 2021 (53 percent), the Middle East and North report. Similarly, the gap in trust in business Africa (65 percent), and Sub-Saharan quadrupled during this period. Africa (55 percent) said that corruption • Increasing actual or perceived inequality is increasing in their region. within countries, particularly in those in • In coming years, advancements in arti- which overall economic growth is slow- 昀椀cial intelligence (AI), machine learning, ing, often coincides with declining trust 5G, and other technologies that will and rising public dissatisfaction with the expand access to the Internet could political system. In less-developed coun- further diminish public trust as people tries, corruption is undermining con昀椀- struggle to determine what is real and A MORE CONTESTED WORLD 71