Trust and voter turnout in Europe: Results from the Horizon TRUEDEM research project

The relationship between trust toward institutions and political actors and citizen participation in democratic life is undoubtedly a topic of great relevance in contemporary social and political research. This book stems from the experience accumulated on this issue as part of the Horizon TRUEDEM – Trust in European Democracies research. More specifically, it allows us to present the results we have obtained regarding voter turnout, one of the most critical topics in research on representative democracies since it is considered an indicator of the legitimacy of political institutions. More specifically, our book aims to outline the factors at stake when voter turnout is addressed in social and political research, with a particular reference to social and political trust. We focus on the role played by political and institutional trust on one side, and social or generalized trust on the other, in affecting voter turnout trends and differences among the EU countries. The results obtained from the research will enable us to draw some conclusions both on the scientific level and on the level of policies geared toward improving the democratic life of European countries. While it may be helpful to emphasize the relevance of trust among the causes of voter turnout and electoral behavior in general, it seems to us also useful to point out that, based on this, we can design policies for reforming political processes in European democratic regimes.