Edelman 2025 Trust Barometer (n=33,000, 28 countries): 7 in 10 believe government/business/journalists deliberately mislead them

Claim: Edelman 2025 Trust Barometer (33,000 respondents, 28 countries, fieldwork Oct 25-Nov 16 2024): 7 in 10 respondents believe government officials, business leaders, and journalists deliberately mislead them. 6 in 10 hold "moderate to high" grievance against government and business. Trust in CEOs among high-grievance respondents is 30% vs 64% among low-grievance.

Source: https://www.edelman.com/news-awards/2025-edelman-trust-barometer-reveals-high-level-grievance (January 19, 2025)

The 2026 Barometer reinforces this with a documented "retreat into insular circles of trust" and a Health Special Report (16 countries, 16,000+ respondents) finding 7 in 10 people worldwide believe at least one of six widely debunked health claims. Trust in media to accurately cover health remains 11 points below pre-COVID levels at 46%.

Confidence: Verified.

The operational implication for Candid client work: unsourced claims are not neutral — they are read as adversarial by default in 2026. Every claim without a name/date/source is processed by a reader who already assumes leaders mislead them. Sourcing is not extra credit; it is the floor.