Beyond firefighters, we saw that other “everyday experts” seemed to rate highly across different dimensions of trust. These findings speak to a broader truth that trust is a function of both perceived authority as well as relatability.

2. Nobody Likes Politicians

We found the least-trusted social roles are associated with archetypes who have power and influence.

“Politicians” and “lawyers” rank poorly, whereas government-related social roles — and even local government roles — rank at the bottom.

Interestingly, “election clerks” do not engender similar levels of distrust as others in local government, falling into the middle of the pack.

It’s important to note that Arizonans’ skepticism towards state officials — and state-level elections officials — may be influenced by the State Senate’s partisan recount of the 2020 election results in Maricopa County.

3. Unpacking Trust Differences Across Ideology

While both liberals and conservatives seem to place high trust in “everyday experts,” there are some important differences depending on the experts’ domain.

Differences also abound for least-trusted roles. Conservative distrust of journalists and university students was high, while Liberals rated police officers and athletes as least trustworthy.

Data-in-Action

When it comes to finding trusted messengers for countering election disinformation, judge your “everyday experts” on these three traits:

1. Domain Expertise/Authority: a doctor or scientist, rather than an influencer
2. Relatability: think nurse, as opposed to an athlete
3. Proximity: a local election administration official is better than a state figure

Finding those with domain expertise, yet without potentially negative connotations of power, is key for your message to truly resonate with its audience.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out. Enjoy Citizen’s Data for Democracy series? You can find past installments here.