abstract

Many scholars argue that citizens with higher levels of political trust are more likely to grant bureaucratic discre tion to public administrators than citizens with lower levels of trust. Trust, therefore, can relieve the tension between managerial flexibility and political accountabil ity in the modern administrative state. Unfortunately, there is little empirical evidence showing that trust is ac tually associated with citizens' willingness to cede policy making power to government. This article tests theories about political trust and citizen competence using the case of zoning Trust in local government is found to be an important predictor of support for zoning, but trust in state government and trust in national government have no effect. These findings suggest that trust affects policy choice and helps determine how much power citizens grant to local administrators.