Examining Political Trust in Post-Soviet Society: A Case Study of Latvia

The aim of this qualitative analysis is to deepen the understanding of the individual cognitions behind trust versus distrust in the context of a post-Soviet society. The data was collected from several universities in a between-groups design, which asked respondents to describe their reasons for their trust or distrust in a political party in an open-ended format. The indicated reasons for both trust and distrust appeared as themes related to the activities and decisions of the party, the perceived characteristics of the party members, party ideology, and specific voter experiences. Reasons for trust (but not distrust) included the perceived newness of the party and its members. Reasons for distrust (but not trust) were related to interethnic relations in the society, the poor public image of the party, arguments related to the Soviet past, as well as a negative moral evaluation of the party. In general, distrust involved more categorical thinking (reasons without elaborated argumentation) and more intergroup-related arguments. There was some evidence suggesting that the roots of political distrust among young people in Latvia go deeper into the Soviet past than the roots of trust.