Forsa trust ranking
Doctors and police enjoy the greatest trust
January 4, 2024, 12:25 a.m
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Germans usually place themselves in the hands of their doctors without any major concerns. No professional group or institution has such good scores in Forsa’s new trust rankings. The federal government and the chancellor, on the other hand, have a difficult time. The Bundeswehr is experiencing the greatest growth.
Germans trust doctors and the police the most and distrust social media and advertising agencies the most. This is the result of the new edition of the institutional ranking, which Forsa has been regularly determining on behalf of “Stern”, RTL and ntv for almost two decades. To this end, 36 institutions from politics, business and society were asked whether citizens had a lot of trust in them.
Doctors (81 percent), the police (81 percent) and universities (73 percent) remain at the top. In addition, the Federal Constitutional Court (74 percent, up four percentage points) and the courts in general (71 percent, up three) have significantly improved values compared to the previous year. The Bundeswehr had the strongest increase at seven percentage points, with 53 percent now placing great trust in it.
For the first time, the reputation of social media was surveyed, which, together with advertising agencies, ended up in last place in the ranking. Only 3 percent of Germans have a lot of trust in them. The results for traditional media are significantly better: radio 50 percent, press 41 percent, television 27 percent.
Trust in the central political institutions at the federal level has fallen further. Only 20 percent have a lot of trust in the Chancellor – 13 percent less than a year ago. The decline in reputation of the federal government as a whole is just as severe, with only 21 percent. The figures for the Bundestag show that this is not just a problem for the traffic light coalition. He also only achieved a trust value of 32 percent – five percentage points less. Only 13 percent trust political parties – a decline of four percentage points.
What is particularly striking is how great the distrust of AfD supporters is towards everyone and everything. The larger their share of voters, the more their views shape the overall picture. Only 34 percent trust the Federal Constitutional Court, only eight percent in the press and only one percent in the Federal Chancellor. Only one value is significantly higher than in the rest of the population: 14 percent of AfD voters trust social media.
The data was collected by the market and opinion research institute Forsa for “Stern” and RTL Deutschland between December 6th and 12th, 2023. Database: 4002 respondents. Statistical error tolerance: +/- 2.5 percentage points.