The Edelman Trust Barometer 2010 found public confidence in government had dropped 15 percentage points compared with the previous year, with just 41 per cent of respondents favourable.

Trust in business rose four points with every sector improving apart from energy, which dropped five points to 37 per cent. Banks and chief executives have improved their public standing, although their trustworthiness remains relatively low.

The Edelman Trust Barometer is an annual survey of highly paid and well-educated people that now charts 22 countries, and the latest report includes the second year of Australian data.

Edelman's Asia-Pacific managing director of corporate practice, David McCarthy, said the first Australian survey, taken during the fourth quarter of 2008, reflected Australians looking to government for leadership during the global financial crisis.

''We think that the government number last year was right at the top of the cycle,'' Mr McCarthy said.

''The Government had a bounce in trust because of the GFC [global financial crisis] and the sample group last year looking towards government fixing the problems business was experiencing.

''The number has dropped substantially by 15 per cent this year. Governments traditionally drop in polls but we think they also drop in trust.''

Edelman, an international corporate public relations company, surveyed 4875 people in 22 countries, all meeting the criteria of college education, income in the top quartile of their country, and were regular followers of business and public policy news.