(Not) one of us: The overrepresentation of elites in politics erodes political trust

Citizens in democracies are increasingly dissatisfied with democratic governance, distrustful of elected officials and view politicians as aloof and detached. We argue that this is, in part, due to the overrepresentation of elites in political office. We conducted four studies (N = 2009) in the U.K. focusing on the education sector. That is, we explore the impact of the overrepresentation of privately educated individuals-who represent >7% of the population but 30%-70% of the political cabinet-on political trust. Studies 1a and 1b measured perceptions and stereotypes of politicians, and Studies 2-4 manipulated the proportion of privately educated politicians in political institutions. Results show that trust in political institutions is eroded when there is overrepresentation of those educated in the private sector. We explore boundary conditions showing that effects are stronger for those who question meritocratic principles in the educational sector and that the effect is mediated through perceptions of deservingness.