SAN DIEGO—Trading stocks while in office severely erodes the trust of the American people, regardless of political affiliation, a study published May 20 by University of California–San Diego (UCSD) researchers revealed.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, was conducted by researchers at UCSD’s Rady School of Management and used an online sample of more than 1,000 people.
In the study, participants were shown a nonpartisan report with real-world data from watchdog organization Unusual Whales, detailing how certain members of Congress consistently outperformed the stock market.
Compared to a control group that did not see the report, those who saw it were “significantly more likely to view Congress as corrupt, self-serving, and less legitimate—and were less willing to follow laws passed by Congress as a result,” a statement from the university said….