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Research suggests that economic inequality reduces political trust after the public recognizes the inequality and perceives it as a failure of the political system in Western democracies. This study challenges this presumed "output evaluation model" (OEM) both theoretically and empirically. We provide an alternative mediator evaluation model (MEM) contending that objective inequality affects political trust through government-performance mediators, without requiring accurate public perception of inequality or specific regime types. With nationwide economic inequality and public opinion data from China, we examined both the OEM implication and four MEM mechanisms through impartial governance, responsiveness, judicial fairness, and anti-corruption efforts. Findings indicate that the mediating mechanisms, rather than direct inequality, shape political trust, with robust evidence even after addressing endogeneity. This study broadens the understanding of the intricate relationship between systemic conditions and individual perceptions, offering significant insights into the dynamics of trust in political institutions in a general sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates popular conceptions of democracy and its underlying factors in China. Democratic conceptions among Chinese citizens have long been debated, with most concluding that economic welfare and government performance dominate how the Chinese view democracy. This article offers a different picture, with new evidence drawn from text data. By employing the structural topic model to analyze the responses to open-ended questions from three waves of the Asian Barometer Survey between 2008 and 2015, this article delineates four democratic conceptions prevalent among the Chinese populace, namely ‘Political Participation’, ‘Political Rights’, ‘Consultative Decision-making’ and ‘Socioeconomic Performance’. The analysis shows that political participation has become the most prominent conception, closely followed by political rights. This finding suggests a shift in the Chinese interpretation of democracy, aligning more closely with western procedural notions while still retaining distinct Chinese characteristics. In addition to rising demands for freedom and equality, informed respondents ask for deeper involvement in public affairs and higher inclusion in the decision-making process. These trends underscore the necessity for the Chinese authorities to more effectively address public demands, especially in the context of the ongoing endeavor to cultivate China’s new model of whole-process people’s democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]