In Amazon We Trust — But Why?

Amazon is the second most trusted institution in the United States, behind the military, according to a new survey conducted by researchers from Georgetown University and NYU. The goal of the survey was to pull apart the broadly recognized fact that “Americans have lost confidence in many of our institutions,” and particularly in the democratic political system. In the intro, the researchers write, “We look to assess whether support for President Trump and other anti-establishment candidates reflects a loss of confidence in institutions — or even a more serious underlying alienation from liberal democracy,” and explain that they asked 5,400 respondents (more than is typically used for a nationally representative political poll) to “indicate their level of confidence in 20 U.S. institutions.” The top five were the military, Amazon, Google, local police, and colleges and universities. The bottom five were the press, the executive branch, Facebook, political parties, and Congress. Read more at Vox.