Trust in Political Leadership During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Positive Trend Between Trust in Government Decisions and COVID-19-Related Worries

Although there is much evidence that trust in different types of authority figures has positive implications for individuals, this topic has rarely been addressed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this brief communication, we present trends that might challenge widely held assumptions regarding the benefits of trust in leadership. Namely, in our exploratory study, which took place in September 2020 upon the announcement of the second lockdown in Israel, we found that trust in the political leadership contributed positively to the prediction of COVID-19-related worries. As it is an exploratory study which includes only a small convenience sample, we suggest directions that might be interesting to examine further.