Topline
Only 27% of Americans have a great deal of confidence in 14 major American institutions on average, a record low since 1979 and a 5% drop from 2021, according to a poll conducted by Gallup, which found sharp declines in trust for the three branches of the federal government, the presidency, the Supreme Court and Congress.
The U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C., is shown.
Key Facts
Trust in the presidency dropped to 23%, down 15% from 2021, reflecting a declining approval rate for President Joe Biden.
Confidence in the Supreme Court also hit a record low of 25%, according to the poll, which was taken from June 1 to June 20, after Politico reported on a leaked draft opinion showing the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The poll focused on public confidence in 14 major U.S. institutions Gallup has monitored annually since 1993, as well as two occasional inclusions, small businesses and large technology groups.
Gallup found confidence declined significantly for 11 out of the 16 total institutions from 2021 to 2022, including the criminal justice system, police, the medical system and public schools.
Out of all 16 institutions, confidence in Congress was the lowest, with only 7% of Americans saying they had a great deal or quite a lot of faith in lawmakers, also a record low.
Americans had the most faith in small businesses, the military and the police, though confidence still declined for all of them from 2021 to 2022.
Confidence declined for all categories—which also included newspapers, big business and television news—except organized labor, which was the same (28%) from 2021 to 2022.
Surprising Fact
The drop in confidence was reflected across partisan groups: Average trust across all institutions fell by four points among Republicans, five points among Democrats and six points among Independents. Democrats and Independents were more likely to have lost confidence in the Supreme Court compared to Republicans, while Republicans lost more faith in banks than other parties.
Key Background
A host of factors have fueled declines in Americans’ confidence in major institutions over the years, including the Iraq War, the Great Recession, partisan gridlock in Congress and Covid-19, according to Gallup. Average confidence in American institutions was at least 40% from 1998 to 2004, but has been falling on average since then. The latest lack of trust across U.S. institutions also represents a 9% drop from 2020, when the Covid pandemic sparked lockdowns and uncertainty for the American people. The poll comes two months after Biden’s approval rating hit a record low amid rising inflation and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Other recent polling suggests Americans are unhappy with the current state of the country: 85% of Americans believe the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released last week.
Further Reading
Biden’s Approval Rating Hits Record Low, Poll Finds (Forbes)
Most say nation on wrong track, including Dems: AP-NORC poll (Washington Post)
