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Americans believe in Big Tech.
In fact, more people trust Amazon AMZN, -1.10% and Google GOOG, -0.14% will “do what is right” than they trust teachers, police officers, Donald Trump, the U.S. government or the news media, according to a nationwide survey from Morning Consult.
The digital media and research company asked subjects whether they trusted 20 different brands, institutions, public figures and ideas to do the right thing “a lot” in its inaugural State of Consumer Trust report. These entities included doctors, teachers and law enforcement officers, as well as public figures and celebrities. They were also asked whether they trusted information such as scientific studies or health and weather advisories.
And while distrust in general is running rampant in the U.S., with more than two-thirds of respondents saying that people have become less trusting in recent years, it appears that Americans have the most confidence in their primary doctors and the Armed Forces. The greatest share (50%) said they trusted their family physician to do the right thing, followed by the military (44%).
But then things get really interesting.
Amazon and Google take the third and fourth most trusted spots overall, with 39% and 38% of subjects, respectively, expressing faith in the tech giants. And that’s higher than their trust in extreme weather warnings (36%), teachers (35%), the police (30%), scientific studies (26%) and health warnings or advisories (23%.)
What’s more, those companies — as well as actor Tom Hanks (34%) and Weight WW, -5.35% spokeswoman and media mogul Oprah Winfrey (27%) — were also more trusted than President Trump (20%) and Warren Buffett (16%.)
But the commander-in-chief and the Oracle of Omaha were still more trusted than religious leaders (15%), capitalism (14%), the news media (8%), the U.S. government (7%) and Wall Street (5%).
The least-trusted entity in America? Hollywood, with just a 4% share of citizens showing confidence in Tinseltown.
Morning Consult also quizzed subjects about specific companies, asking, “How much do you trust each brand to do what is right?” They could respond with “a lot,” “some,” “not much,” “not at all” or “don’t know.” And the company that drew the greatest number of “a lots” was the United States Postal Service, with 42% of consumers expressing confidence in the brand.
The USPS was followed by Amazon (38.8%), Google (37.9%), PayPal PYPL, -0.51% (36.5%) and The Weather Channel (36.3%). Chick-Fil-A (36.2%), The Hershey Company HSY, -0.52% (36.1%), UPS UPS, +0.95% (36.1%), the General Mills-owned GIS, -0.06% Cheerios (35.9%) and M&M’s (34.8%) rounded out the top 10.
By generation, Gen Z adults (those born after 1997), and millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996), trusted Google the most, while Gen Xers (born 1964 – 1981) and boomers (1946-1964) put their faith in the post office. Netflix NFLX, +0.16% also scored highly among Gen Z and millennials.
Overall, just under three in four Americans said they trust the average major company to delivery consistently on what they promise. And more than half (55%) said they tend to trust the average American company, and that companies have to do something wrong to lose that trust — so most consumers are giving brands the benefit of the doubt.
These results align with Morning Consult’s Top 25 Most Loved Brands report that was released last year, which found Amazon, Google, Netflix, UPS and Home Depot HD, +0.66% rounding out the top five favorite companies.
See the full rankings and download the report from the Morning Consult here.
