General-population trust surveys are irrelevant if 5 percent of citizens drive politics

Evidence

Recall the view cited in the previous section: that having only 5 percent of the citizenry alert and committed to politics is all it takes to make things work. If this is even roughly true, then the survey evidence on declining trust, confidence, or faith in government across the general population is of little interest. What we need to know if we are to assess the prospects for government in this era is how the 5 percent who are alert and active in politics rate government. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 747

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Schattschneider and elite/specialized-public theory; the alert 5 percent function like Milgrom’s reputation-bearing traders in the law-merchant chapters.