The urban group, however, shows diminishing trust in the police over time, dropping in 2005 and a further drop in 2009. Given the role of the police during OM, the first drop in trust seems obvious, but it is not obvious why the drop in trust continues into 2009 while trust in the police is restored completely for the rural respondents. Figure 6: Political Trust – President, Ruling Party, & Parliament 70 60 Looking at the more obviously political agents – President, parliament and the ruling party – there are more marked differences than with the police or the courts. 50 Trust the President 40 30 Trust Parliament 20 Trust the ruling party 10 2004 2005 Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban 0 2009 Both groups show an increased trust in parliament in 2009 compared with 2004, again presumably because of the Inclusive Government. But both groups also show diminished trust over time in the ruling party and some diminution in trust of the President over time. Trust in the President for both groups does not return, in 2009, to the 2004 levels. It does appear, therefore, that one possible consequence of OM was a sustained drop in support for ZANU-PF, which some bearing on the 2008 elections and the party losing its majority in parliament. The effects of the catastrophic decline in economy must not be discounted as an additional factor here influencing the outcome of the election. Political Affiliation Political trust seems to have been affected by OM (amongst other factors), but how was explicit political party support affected. As can be seen very clearly from Figure 7 (over), the effect upon political affiliation was dramatic. There is a clear relationship between the drop in support for ZANU-PF from the level of 2004, and this was sustained through to 2009. The effect was found for both rural and urban respondents, with rural folk dropping from 65% support for ZANU-PF in 2004 down to a mere 17% in 2009: a 48 percentage drop, and this within the long-standing support base for the party. 11