INSCOP Barometer: Which institutions do Romanians trust the most

The INSCOP Barometer, published on Thursday, shows that Romanians have the most trust in the Church and the Army. Trust in the Church and the Police increased compared to July 2025, while all other institutions included as options in the survey recorded decreases.

Specifically, the Church is in first place in the trust ranking. 63.9% of survey participants stated that they have quite a lot and a lot of trust in this institution. Unlike July 2025, Romanians’ trust in the Church institution increased by 6.2% in January 2026.

In second place is the Army, with a trust capital of 61.8%, slightly down from 63% recorded in July 2025. The Police is in third place in the top of the institutions in which Romanians have the most trust, with a trust capital of 50%. Unlike July 2025, the Police registered a considerable increase, of 6.8%, from 43.2%.

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The Presidency institution is in 4th place in the ranking, with 27.9% (compared to 34.8% in July 2025), and Justice is in 5th place, with 25.4%.

At the opposite end, the institutions in which Romanians have the least trust are the Government, with 18.4%, down from 20.4% in July 2025, and the Parliament, with 11.9%, compared to 14.5% in July 2025.

„Institutions perceived as „non-political” dominate public trust. The Church and the Army remain symbolic landmarks of stability and identity, a sign that the population is looking for anchors of continuity outside the political game itself. It is a classic pattern in societies with structural distrust in the political class. Political institutions are trapped in a structural deficit of credibility. We are not just talking about short-term dissatisfaction, but a chronic distrust in representative institutions. This indicates a rupture between citizens and the classic mechanisms of representative democracy, which fuels populism, anti-system discourse and radical formulas of political representation”, says Remus Ștefureac, director of INSCOP Research.

The data for this barometer were collected between January 12-15, 2026, the research method used being the interview through the questionnaire. The data were collected using the CATI method (telephone interviews), and the sample was a simple, stratified one, of 1100 people, aged 18 and over from Romania. The maximum allowed error of the data is ± 3%, at a confidence level of 95%.