This analysis focuses on the little examined area of trust in politica
l officials, in specific, constituents' trust in their U.S. House memb
er. Employing new measures of trust in incumbent representatives, a co
nfirmatory factor analysis is used to assure that the measures of cons
tituents' trust are reliable. Then a structural model of constituents'
trust is analyzed using LISREL. The findings indicate that constituen
ts' trust is directly influenced by personal contact with the represen
tative and trust in the political system, and indirectly influenced by
perceptions of waste in government, economic evaluations, and socioec
onomic status operating through system trust.