New polling data shows significant differences in trust by age, income, race, and sector. With the coronavirus and its variants here to stay, the U.S. vaccination rate hovers stubbornly around 60%. With each new wave, COVID-19 cases spike, and deaths soon follow — almost always more so in the most historically marginalized and resource-deprived neighborhoods and communities. Here in the AAMC’s home of Washington, D.C., almost every single one of those deaths since June has been of a Black resident. Calls for more or better vaccine education are ineffective without a foundation of trust.
In May 2021, the AAMC Center for Health Justice published the Principles of Trustworthiness, a set of guidelines and actions for organizations to use to show they are worthy of their community’s trust. More than one year after the July 2020 interviews with the community members that informed the principles, we polled a nationally representative sample of adults across the United States to gauge their levels of trust in institutions, how that trust has changed over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, and what organizations from all sectors should do to be seen as trustworthy partners by their communities. (author introduction)