Virginia Trust Index rebounds slightly after long pandemic decline

SALEM, Va. (WDBJ) - Along with politics and consumer sentiment, Roanoke College has been tracking trust in Virginia. Survey results from August show a slight rebound after a long slide during the pandemic.

The trust that members of society place in one another can play an important role in economic growth, and Roanoke College has been tracking the indicator for several years.

It jumped at the beginning of the pandemic, but Roanoke College Economics Professor Dr. Alice Kassens said it had been falling for about two years.

Click here to see the entire poll.

“People got a bit fed up, I believe, in May 2021 with the persistent mandates about masks, new mandates about vaccines and just general political anxiety that was going on at the time,” Kassens told WDBJ7 in an interview Wednesday, “and so we saw that really reducing people’s trust in each other.”

Kassens said it’s too early to say if the August increase will become a trend. But at least for now, she said, we are moving in the right direction.

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