Trust in political institutions is often described as being in crisis, yet local governments remain a notable exception. This paradox raises an important question: why do citizens, even in contexts of widespread political disaffection, tend to express higher trust in local authorities than in national ones?

This paper explores this puzzle by focusing on how the rural–urban divide shapes the dynamics of local trust. The increasing strand of literature on geographic divides usually depicts rural areas as centres of political discontent: rural dwellers tend to exhibit lower levels of external political efficacy, satisfaction with democracy, and political trust. However, some studies show that local institutions could work as a counterbalance for resentful rural dwellers. Rural environments can foster closer social and political ties that may sustain confidence in local governance. On the one hand, channels for responsiveness and accountability can seem more direct to citizens in rural places. On the other hand, local politics in small municipalities tend to be more independent from national and partisan dynamics.

Following these arguments, this study introduces citizens’ perceptions of mayors’ priorities —whether they privilege party interests or the well-being of their municipality— as a key moderating factor that may explain variation in local trust across rural-urban contexts. It draws on original survey data from around 1900 respondents collected in Catalonia just before the 2023 local elections combined with contextual data on rurality and mayor’s political party affiliation.

Findings from preliminary analyses show that citizens’ perceptions of their mayor’s priorities condition the rural-urban divide in local trust. When mayors are seen as serving partisan interests, local trust remains low regardless of context. Nevertheless, when mayors are perceived as prioritising their municipality’s interest, rural dwellers exhibit a much stronger increase in local trust than urbanites. This could suggest that the trust-enhancing effects of community-oriented leadership are amplified in the relational, close-knit environments of rural politics. By integrating insights from research on political trust, local governance, and spatial divides, the paper contributes to understanding how proximity and political perception jointly shape democratic legitimacy at the local level.