Americans have lost faith in virtually all of their institutions. A Gallup Poll has been tracking America’s confidence for a number of years, and nearly all of the 16 institutions are at or near their historic lows.
Here are the results from the most recent survey conducted last month, giving the percentage of Americans who feel a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of confidence in each institution. These are listed from highest confidence to lowest, but notice that only the first two have the confidence of a majority of Americans, and their numbers are down like all the rest. The first percentage given here is from 2021, and the second is from 2023, showing the decline over the last two years:
- Small business (70% to 65%)
- The military (69% to 60%)
- The police (51% to 43%)
- The medical system (44% to 34%)
- The church or organized religion (37% to 32%)
- The U.S. Supreme Court (36% to 27%)
- Banks (33% to 26%)
- The public schools (32% to 26%)
- The presidency (38% to 26%)
- Large technology companies (29% to 26%)
- Organized labor (28% to 25%)
- Newspapers (21% to 18%)
- The criminal justice system (20% to 17%)
- Television news (16% to 14%)
- Big business (18% to 14%)
- Congress (12% to 8%)
What do you make of this? Why are Americans giving up on nearly all of their institutions? Can you account for what happened to specific ones of these? Are there any institutions–perhaps not listed–that you still believe deserve our trust? Can you suggest ways that some of these can restore the trust of Americans?
Discuss.
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