The Trust Fortress: How Latter-day Saints Resist a 60-Year National Decline

Abstract

Using General Social Survey (GSS) data spanning roughly six decades, this analysis compares social and institutional trust among Latter-day Saints to the broader U.S. population. LDS members have maintained stable social trust around 50% while most other groups experienced steep declines. The piece finds that LDS confidence in religious leaders is exceptionally high and that social trust and religious trust are positively correlated among LDS respondents in a way not seen for trust in secular institutions.

Findings for Latter-day Saints

• LDS members score 11 percentage points higher on social trust than the U.S. average.
• 51% of LDS members express "a great deal" of confidence in religious leaders, vs. 18% nationally.
• LDS social trust held steady near 50% over six decades while most other religious groups declined substantially.
• LDS members are roughly twice as likely as the general population to report both high social trust and high religious institutional trust.
• For LDS respondents, high religious trust does not correlate with elevated trust in non-religious institutions (military, Supreme Court, business).

Limitations in methodology

GSS sample sizes for LDS respondents are small in any given year; the author combines 2010s and 2020s data due to reduced n and GSS discontinuation of the Mormon variable in the latest survey wave. Findings are descriptive/correlational. Mormon Metrics is an independent Substack, not a peer-reviewed outlet.

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• 2024educationcollege

  Educational Attainment Among Latter-day Saints, Ex-Mormons, and the US Population (Pew RLS 2007–2024)

  Mormon Metrics

Cite this study

Bass, A. (2026). The Trust Fortress: How Latter-day Saints Resist a 60-Year National Decline. Mormon Metrics (Substack). https://mormonmetrics.com/p/the-trust-fortress-how-latter-day

Alex Bass. "The Trust Fortress: How Latter-day Saints Resist a 60-Year National Decline." Mormon Metrics (Substack), 2026. https://mormonmetrics.com/p/the-trust-fortress-how-latter-day.

@article{trust_fortress_lds_resist_60_year_decline,
  title = {The Trust Fortress: How Latter-day Saints Resist a 60-Year National Decline},
  author = {Alex Bass},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {Mormon Metrics (Substack)},
  url = {https://mormonmetrics.com/p/the-trust-fortress-how-latter-day},
}