Partisan trust: how political parties determine levels of popular trust in institutions

This dissertation explores the role of political parties in polarizing political trust. The gap in political trust between electoral winners and losers threatens regime stability, undermines accountability, and casts doubt on the idea of trust as a reservoir of political support. Although previous work that examines the determinants of the winner-loser gap in political trust has focused on electoral institutions, I argue that an analysis of parties, their behavior, and who they descriptively represent sheds light on why trust is polarized in some societies more than others. By focusing on parties and party systems, I argue that political parties act as intermediaries that influence attitudes toward institutions and the rules that govern them. Building on literature that identifies the cognitive and affective dimensions of trust judgments, I argue that partisans are influenced by perceptions of how institutions and agents will act. In this dissertation, I explore ways parties can shape cognitive and affective dimensions of trust judgments.