Year after year and case after case, there is rising evidence of how few major American institutions we trust. Government and politicians are near the top of the list, probably driven by a rise in political polarization. Trust in the media has also fallen on hard times. The trust in people like CBS anchor Walter Cronkite has given way to skepticism about print, online, and TV news which has lurched both right and left. Prosecutors have become viewed as biased, also often based, again, on political considerations. The view of America’s police departments may be the most negative of all time as evidence of pervasive racism grows.
A Gallup survey sought to measure the level of confidence Americans have toward 16 large institutions, and the results aren’t great. Only two institutions on the list garnered “a great deal” or “a lot” of trustworthiness above 70%, while three of them received confidence levels below 20%. Nine of these 16 institutions were ranked at or below the overall average of 38%.
The survey also looked at public perceptions between non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks. The widest spreads between the two race categories were found in the trust they put in police and the presidency. Whites ranked those two institutions above trust in churches and public schools while black Americans put trust in the presidency and the police near the bottom, along with the criminal justice system.
Confidence in the private sector shows one of the more interesting survey results. Survey respondents said they considered small businesses as the most trustworthy institution in the country, but rank big businesses — such as publicly traded multinational corporations — among the least trustworthy.
To identify the least trusted American institution, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the results of a Gallup poll of 1,226 U.S. adults 18 and older, living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, conducted between June 8 and July 24, 2020. Institutions are ranked on the share of adults who have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the institution in question. Institutions are ranked from most to least trusted.
The least trusted institution was Congress. Only 13% of adults had high confidence in the institution.
Trust in Congress tends to rise and fall depending on one thing above all else: the perception of gridlock. When Congress is viewed as helping average people, it’s viewed more favorably. When Congress passed the $900 billion COVID-19 pandemic relief package in December, its public approval shot up. But such bursts of approval are short lived, and according to this Gallup survey, federal lawmakers are the least trusted group of these 16 institutions.
Click here to read Most and Least Trusted Institutions in America
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