This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser from Bloomberg Radio. It has been, as you know, we've been saying this about a year since the World Health Organization declared that the coronavirus outbreak was a global pandemic. So much has happened since then. Many have said going back to normal is not what happened, since things have changed so much
as a result of the health crisis. So one way to see what is on the minds of individuals is the Edelman Trust Barometer, which we have gotten to several times over the past twelve months and back with the latest and which looks at the past twelve months. Is the founder and CE of the Global Communications from Edelman. He's Richard Edelman, and he's back with us on the phone in New York. Richard, how are you hey, Carol? How are you doing? Tell me about it. In some ways,
it feels like it was yesterday. Some days it feels like it was a decade ago. It's just kind of crazy. UM. I read through all of the latest Trust Barometer and I want to get to the details. But first remind our audience, because you guys do this survey several times throughout a year. Tell us how you go about it, who you talked to, h in a little bit of
the process. So, UM, last weekend we talked to Americans across the economic spectrum, across the geographies, and UM, we do it online and we lasted it in uh December. And you'll recall that business was the most trusted institution in the world for the first time. The deep divide between Trump voter and a Biden voter um for example, especially about media, where there was a forty point difference
in terms of trust. Um, the only thing they could agree on was that business is trusted, and especially and especially my employer, that my employer, the trust is local. That you know, I trust my CEO, my colleagues at work, and so you know, things near me because I can control that relationship. Well, okay, and so that was last time around. What's interesting in this time around is there's not a lot trust of anything. Yeah. Well, Carol, I think the most important thing to say out of this
is America's in shock. I wrote my essay last week about America and trauma, and UM, I think half the people we surveyed said they knew someone who had been hospitalized or was dead. And um, you know, I had gotten sick from COVID, and and uh, the two thirds said, I'm still living in a pandemic survival mode. And I know the markets are going up and and everybody's optimistic
about the future, but the markets are not seeing today. Um. And you know, it's a real, um, kind of stunning thing that more people have died than than in World War two, World War One, Vietnam and Korea. And it's we are literally the death of the world or something like this. It's scary, it's shocking. Well, I can hear it in your voice to Richard, and you're right when I think at this one, we actually it's not just numbers and stats that we roll off here. It's it's individuals.
And as you said, you know most people either know someone or know someone who lost someone because of COVID specifically. You know, listen, you have been talking to ceo s for so many years. You know, how is this kind of changing how they will run their companies going forward, especially if if they're seeing these surveys and they're saying people are employees don't trust us. So I think they feel a special responsibility after this year to do differently
and I actually feel very inspired by that. You know, we have clients new Lever for change the song on the ice cream trucks because they found out that it was a racist minstrel song from the eighties, and within a month they said, Okay, we're gonna be sharing a new song with the Rizard from New Wittan Clan. And as songs for a World Day are going to be different, kids are gonna have a different jingle. That's the kind of speed and agility that that American business is doing.
Or Dan Showman of PayPal saying, I found out that half my people were living kind of on a hand to mouth way and I had to raise their wages. That's amazing, Uh, flexibility like I've never seen before. Carol, Yeah, which is really remarkable. You know it's interesting too, Richard, like some of the uncomfortable conversations we've been having. And one individual said to me and and she's like, you're not gonna believe this is going to come out of
my mouth. And this is from a black American said, you know, we need to kind of thank Donald Trump in some ways because there are conversations that came out over the last year to some extent because of some of what he said and the conversations that came out of that, and that we're having on a corporate level that that we didn't have before. To be fair, well, I think one big thing that that really is important though, that I want to listeners to processes. We cannot as
business force our employees to get vaccinated. Of our respondents said, listen, I'm prepared to consider it, but don't compel me. Uh. And the same thing about only sixty are prepared to go back to work, to the workplace, to the city because there's still afraid. Only fiftent said that they're ready to take the subway, said they're ready to fly, saying they're ready to go see Grandma. So again we're still
in trauma. Small steps will get business to the right place. Richard, there's just so many data points when you guys do this survey on trust. I thought it was interesting and one that caught my attention. Listen, one in three believe everything will be back to normal by the end of Trump voters versus of Biden voters. So there's still a lot of hesitancy about kind of where we are by the end of the year. So Carol, I think a
lot of this reflects a basic problem with information. So when you see that belief in major news organizations is down twenty one is down by a third um in a year. People don't know where to get good facts. They go to their doctor, they go to local government, um. But they think the media is biased, they think it's politicized. Um. Only of Trump voters trust the media at all. And so we we have a real crisis of information bankruptcy. And our doctors and scientists are definitely the most trusted
to tell the truth about the vaccine. And you know, here's where companies have to be smart and get in sort of public health officials and others who have the credibility and the m D behind their name. Well, and I do wonder, you know, because you've done a series of these trust barometers during the pandemic. You know, how quickly can things change in terms of who individuals are
trusting in society? You know, employ yer versus a business, versus institutions versus the health you know, institutions, Um, how quickly can you remember last You'll remember last May, government was the most trusted institution, especially local government. In Andrew Cuomo with etcetera. And look with it's going on now, I mean the events of the world. Trust is really
unstable right now. And again, if if you're an employer or a small business, you have really to pay attention to the needs of your employees who are not getting quality effects. I heard from the communications head at Columbia University. She's the number one source of information on vaccination and
access for the fifty employees of that university. That's stunning. Uh. It means that you trusting my company's newsletter, for example, is the highest thing and that's why you have to talk to the employees in our study this this weekend said I want to be communicated once a week out this so again, a company being an information source is
kind of a new deal. Yeah. I do feel like and I think a lot of people would would agree with this, that there is a lot of information that's come down and you know, you almost want a clearinghouse, one central place where we all go. And I guess one would assume it would be something like the c d C, but it it hasn't necessarily played out that way. And I think in the in the era of seven cable news and just NonStop online news. You know, it's
hard to get get control of this. One data point that that did stand out for me along these lines of vaccine hesitancy is decreasing. Absolutely. Yeah, so this is really a positive. Vaccine hesitancy in fact, um is, you know, deeply decreased. At seventy plus percent of people say that they'll get a vaccine as soon as possible. That's up twenty points. Um. But we still see um that there's a sort of lack of information among those who are hesitant.
It is I don't have enough facts. And but I also want to say there's a huge myth about vaccine hesitancy about communities of color. This is very important because already says, oh, well, blacks and Hispanics, you know that they're thinking about history, and no, they can't get to appointments of black and Hispanics said, I'm qualified to get vaccinated, but I can't get on the website. I can't, I
can't get registered. That's bad. We have to even if we have to go door to door or whatever it is, we have to make sure that there's equal opportunity and equal access. Yeah. I actually think that's a really important distinction because you're right. We've how many times have said it's it's a case of UM minorities don't want to take the vaccine. But you're right. It has to do often with either access to signing up online or just having the ability to take off of work and do it.
And and it's a really big data point in terms of demographics. And just got about thirty seconds left. Was that the biggest thing that stood out for you. I think that there's UM. I think young people have actually suffered disproportionately in this especially in terms of economic effect. I was shocked one and three said, you know, I've had a decrease in my income or or I can't
get a job. And it's especially true of the eighteen to twenty nine And so again we have real work to do to get these young people into the workforce again and not get frustrated and get them going. And also people, um, women, especially women are women are really nervous, more nervous about getting vaccinated, and they've had a disproportionate job impact, so we have to get them back on the on the on the wheel. Well, we always learn a bunch and it's really a great kind of snapshot
of where we are Richard, thank you so much. Richard Edelman, CEO AT Edelman, on the phone in New York City,