In a poll reported in Business Week (17 May 1999, 8), people responded that, when looking for advice in assessing some product to be purchased, they most trust Consumer Reports, a friend's recommendation, a news article (not an ad), and a magazine article, in that order. This is presumably what trust in government often means in the survey literature. “I trust” for some of these responses means no more than that I can rely on government or I can expect it to act in decent ways. “I trust” Consumer Reports does not mean what “I trust” my close friend means. It reduces to the French, “j'ai confiance,” I have confidence.

DEFINE: Distinguishes institutional confidence (as in Consumer Reports) from the deeper interpersonal trust reserved for close friends.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 777