Informat.ro Barometer – INSCOP: Trust in the Church, a reflection of a fragmented Romania

In a Romania marked by successive crises, the fact that the Church remains the institution with the highest level of trust is not a surprise, but rather a social symptom. According to the Barometer Informat.ro – INSCOP Research (edition VII, conducted between January 12-15), 63.9% of Romanians declare that they have "quite a lot" and "very much" trust in the Church, placing it first in the hierarchy of national institutions.

From a sociological perspective, the high trust in the Church, compared to other national institutions, can also be seen as a reaction to the crisis of credibility of state authority. When political institutions – Parliament, Government, parties – are associated with incompetence, corruption, or distance from the citizen, the Church remains a strong reference point. It offers moral guidance and a sense of belonging, even for those who are not active practitioners.

Beyond the percentage of 63.9%, socio-demographic data reveal, however, a deep divide that says a lot about today's Romania. The high trust in the Church is concentrated especially among PSD and AUR voters, people over 60 years old, those with primary education, and residents of rural areas. For these categories, the Church functions not only as a religious institution but as a social "anchor" in the face of rapid changes in modern society. Especially in rural areas, the Church remains an identity and community reference, being linked to tradition and a sense of continuity in a world perceived as increasingly unpredictable.

On the opposite end, the data show that those with the lowest trust in the Church are USR voters, people aged between 30 and 45, those with higher education, and residents of Bucharest and large cities. These are segments of the population more exposed to secularized values and to Western models of strict separation between state, society, and religion. For these categories, the Church is often perceived as too close to politics, too opaque, or insufficiently adapted to modern realities.

This difference is not just one of opinion but one of vision regarding society. Trust in the Church thus becomes an indicator of the tension between tradition and modernization, between conservatism and progressivism.

In essence, the real challenge is not the existence of these differences but the society's ability to mediate a real dialogue between the various population categories that no longer share the same fundamental symbols. This divide is often exploited by political actors, who prefer to amplify divisions instead of building bridges for dialogue. In this context, lower trust in the Church should not be confused with a crisis of faith. For many Romanians, faith remains alive, even if the relationship with the religious institution tends to be more critical.

Methodology: The data from the VII edition of the BAROMETER Informat.ro – INSCOP Research were collected between January 12-15, 2026. Research method: interview via questionnaire. The data were collected using the CATI method (telephone interviews), with a simple stratified sample volume of 1100 people, representative of significant socio-demographic categories (gender, age, occupation) for the non-institutionalized population of Romania, aged 18 and over. The maximum allowable error of the data is ± 3%, at a confidence level of 95%.