Poll shows growing trust in police and Church

More people trust the Church and the police than they did ten years ago, while many are now more sceptical of the media and the advertising industry, a survey shows.

The Reader’s Digest European Trusted Brands 2010 report published on Tuesday revealed that 74 per cent of respondents had faith in the police, up two percentage points on a decade ago.

Confidence in the judicial system increased four points to 61 per cent over the same period. Around 43 per cent said they trusted the Church, up from 38 per cent.

Confidence in banks was not as affected as one might think, Uwe Horn, spokesman for Readers Digest in Germany and Switzerland, told swissinfo.ch. Around 38 per cent of respondents said they had high or fairly high confidence in banks, around the same as the European average. No comparative data from a decade ago was available.

The media is losing some ground in Switzerland, as it is across much of Europe. The percentage of people who said they had high or fairly high confidence in the press slipped from 50 to 46. Confidence in television and radio dropped two percentage points to 65 per cent compared with ten years ago.

People seem to have about the same level of trust in marriage as they did a decade ago. The survey found 69 per cent had confidence in the institution compared with 68 per cent previously.

Other areas surveyed reveal stark contrasts between Switzerland and other European countries. The poll showed 43 per cent of people had confidence in the Swiss government and its policies, nearly double the European average.

Confidence in the European Union fell six percentage points to 24 per cent. Faith in the advertising industry dropped from 19 per cent to 16 per cent over ten years.

swissinfo.ch and agencies