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Generally speaking, would you say that people can be trusted or that you can't be too careful in dealing with people?
Whether people can be trusted · Asked in 7 waves, 1998–2024 · 10,201 responses · weighted estimates computed from individual responses
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. → web (2021).
Shares of people who gave an answer. Each column is one wave, evenly spaced rather than to scale in time; hover for exact shares.
| Group | People can almost always be trusted | People can usually be trusted | You usually can't be too careful in dealing with people |
|---|
| Poll | Field dates | Mode | Respondents | Responses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Social Survey 2024 | 2024-04-05 to 2024-12-02 | mixed | 3,309 | 1,640 |
| General Social Survey 2021 | 2020-12-03 to 2021-05-02 | web | 4,032 | 2,003 |
| General Social Survey 2018 | 2018-04-12 to 2018-11-10 | face to face | 2,348 | 1,173 |
| General Social Survey 2014 | 2014-03-31 to 2014-10-13 | face to face | 2,538 | 1,264 |
| General Social Survey 2008 | 2008-04-17 to 2008-09-13 | face to face | 2,023 | 1,365 |
| General Social Survey 2004 | 2004-08-18 to 2005-01-04 | face to face | 2,812 | 1,472 |
| General Social Survey 1998 | 1998-02-01 to 1998-06-19 | face to face | 2,832 | 1,284 |
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. → web (2021).
Shares of people who gave an answer. A group’s column is left blank in waves where its effective sample is under 50; hover for exact shares.
| You almost always can't be too careful in dealing with people |
|---|
| n |
|---|
| MoE |
|---|
| All respondents | 3% | 35% | 49% | 14% | 1640 | ±3 | |
| Democrats | 5% | 43% | 40% | 12% | 451 | ±7 | |
| Independents (incl. leaners) | 2% | 30% | 52% | 15% | 716 | ±5 | |
| Republicans | 4% | 34% | 53% | 10% | 417 | ±7 |
General Social Survey 2024 · US adults 18+ living in households (English, and Spanish since 2006). Shares of people who gave an answer. n is unweighted; ± is the 95% margin of error at 50% from the weighted effective sample. Groups with an effective sample under 50 are grayed; under 20, hidden.