Americans’ confidence in the country’s major institutions remains low, lagging behind historical averages, according to the pollster Gallup.
Confidence in two institutions — newspapers and organized religion — fell to record lows this year, Gallup said. “The overall average of Americans expressing ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a lot’ of confidence in 14 institutions is below 33% for the third straight year,” said Gallup, which conducted its survey June 1-5.
Gallup said Americans’ confidence in institutions “has remained relatively low since 2007. That year, the average for the 14 institutions Gallup has asked about annually since 1993 dropped to 32% from 38% in 2006. (Gallup began asking about a 15th institution, small business, in 2007.) From 1993 to 2006, the average had been below 38% only once —- in 1994, when it dipped to 36%.”
The institutions experiencing the greatest decline in confidence during the last decade are banks, organized religion, the news media and Congress, Gallup said, which released the results of its poll June 13.