Second, when survey respondents say they trust most people most of the time, this is almost surely an elliptical claim. They do not mean that, if a random stranger on the street were to ask for a loan of, say, a hundred dollars, they would trust that person to repay and would therefore make the loan. This ellipsis might be covered by the phrase “most of the time.” Hence even this open-ended answer to a badly framed, vague question is almost certainly just a loose way of saying they would trust most people within somewhat narrow limits. Moreover, it is also elliptical in its reference to “most people.” Few of the respondents would genuinely trust just anyone much at all.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 97