Why Trust Matters: Declining Political Trust and the Demise of American Liberalism

"Provocative, smoothly written, and supported by appropriate data, this is a first-rate book by a first-rate scholar. The message is timely and the thesis unique and believable."--John Hibbing, University of Nebraska, author of Stealth Democracy: Americans' Beliefs about How Government Should Work

"Why Trust Matters adds a new dimension to the study of trust in government by showing the consequences of prolonged political distrust on support for liberal social welfare policies. Hetherington shows that the decline in support is due not to increased conservatism in the population, but rather due to declining trust."--Samantha Luks, University of Minnesota