How were more trusted in the Old Republic?

The jedi or politicians?

 

At times in the Old Republic the Jedi were mistrusted as much as the politicians, which is not surprising given that they are, from a certain POV, religious extremists. The Force may have been real enough to most people (pretty easy to find evidence for its existence), but the philosophical aspect is religious in nature. The Jedi continually fought amongst each other (most are not going to care about the philosophical disagreements between Jedi and Sith: it is just one word against another to many). It has been a while since I played the KOTOR games but you get a good feel for the POV of the average Joe in the GFFA. And then, we have the movies in which they are considered traitors and are outlaws.

So you have a really interesting topic I'd say as the GFFA is a big place and we have a big time-line.

 

The politicians for the sheer fact that most people didn't even think the Jedi actually exist.

 

Depends on which Era of OR Jedi/Politcians we are talking about...

 

It also depends on which era. Palpatine had stoked anti-Jedi sentiment in the Republic's twilight, but the Order was more respected earlier in the Republic's history.

 

I bet they still had a higher approval rating than the Senate even then. From the latest Holonet News podcast the Senate's approval rating was at 31% during the early clone wars.

 

That would certainly explain why Ki-Adi and Mace thought they could get away with taking control of the Senate.