Health and Political Trust

Literature on health and political participation shows that poor health depresses turnout but not necessarily partaking in non-institutionalised forms of political action. This observation may be explained by differing levels of trust in the political process among those with and without health problems. Citizens with health impairments are more likely to experience the direct effects of political decisions as they are more dependent on welfare and health services provided by the public sector. This first-hand knowledge may lower their level of trust towards the political system and its actors, especially when they judge the quality of public services to be insufficient. Using the European Social Survey data we analyse the association between health and political trust within and between European states. We assume that the negative association between health and trust is stronger in those European welfare regimes where the level of public services is low.