Survey Finds Mexicans Trust Universities Most, Lawmakers Least EFE
go to original October 8, 2012

A woman walks along the esplanade of Ciudad Universitaria of UNAM in Mexico City. (EFE)

MEXICO CITY - Universities are the most trusted institutions in Mexico in the wake of this year's general elections, while lawmakers get the lowest marks for trust, a survey conducted by polling firm Consulta Mitofsky found.

The "high trust" group was made up of universities, the Catholic Church, the army, the National Human Rights Commission and the news media.

These institutions all received scores of more than seven out of 10, and more than 20 percent of respondents said they had "much" confidence in them.

The institutions in this group had a "trust balance" of more than seven percentage points, the polling firm said.

The "medium trust" group is comprised of the Supreme Court, businessmen, the Federal Electoral Institute, banks and the president, all of which received average scores of more than six but less than seven.

Between 10 percent and 20 percent of respondents declared that they had "much trust" in these institutions, but with the exception of the Supreme Court, all of them had negative scores because more people did not have much confidence in them than trusted them.

Unions, senators, political parties, the police and members of the lower house of Congress all made the "low trust" group, with scores below six and less than 10 percent of respondents saying they have "much trust" in them, while more than 30 percent said they had "little or no trust" in them.

Women tended to trust the 15 institutions more than men.

People with higher educational levels tended to have less trust in the institutions, with the same tendency occuring among older people, except with regard to the universities, which received high marks from all demographic groups.

The survey of 1,000 registered voters over the age of 18 was conducted Aug. 17-19.

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