By Tom Ozimek
Contributing Writer
Americans’ confidence in the police saw the sharpest rise by far compared to any other public institution this past year, according to a new Gallup poll, which in general shows public sentiment in institutions remains historically low.
Faith in institutions among Americans has been sliding for years, various polls have shown, with the dearth of confidence being pervasive, extending from politics to banking, from the presidency to television news, and from Congress to organized religion.
The latest poll, released by Gallup on July 15, shows that barely three institutions among 17 enjoy majority-level confidence among Americans. A bright spot of the survey is that the number of institutions previously above 50% confidence was just two, with police now joining that club to broaden its membership to three.
Overall, confidence in law enforcement saw an eight-point jump among U.S. adults, rising from 43% last year to 51% this year.
The increase in confidence in the police was sharpest among America’s youngest generation of adults, soaring by 16 points from 27% last year to 43% this year among those aged 18-34.
Small business and the military had the highest confidence ratings, with 68% and 61% of Americans respectively giving them an overall majority-level confidence rating, a category that combines a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence.
At the other end of the spectrum, there was television news and Congress. These two were the worst, notching 12% and 9% confidence levels, respectively.
The 17 institutions covered by the poll, along with their 2023 and 2024 confidence levels, are as follows:
• The church or organized religion (32% last year, 32% again this year).
• The military (60% last year, 61% this year).
• The U.S. Supreme Court (27% last year, 30% this year).
• Banks (26% last year, 30% this year).
• Public schools (26% last year, 29% this year).
• Newspapers (18% last year, 18% this year).
• Congress (8% last year, 9% this year).
• Television news (14% last year, 12% this year).
• Organized labor (25% last year, 28% this year).
• The presidency (26% last year, 26% this year).
• The police (43% last year, 51% this year).
• The medical system (34% last year, 36% this year).
• The criminal justice system (17% last year, 21% this year).
• Big business (14% last year, 16% this year).
• Small business (65% last year, 68% this year).
• Tech companies (26% last year, 27% this year).
• Higher education (36% last year, 36% this year).
The Gallup poll was carried out on a representative sample of 1,005 adults living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with a 4% margin of error.
Historically, confidence in America’s foundational institutions has ebbed and flowed, though there’s been a long-term declining trend since at least the 1970s.
OECD Survey Shows Similar Ebbs in Trust
The Gallup poll comes on the heels of a survey carried out by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development into levels of public trust in government, which fell by 2 percentage points on average among the 30 countries — which doesn’t include the United States — surveyed between 2021 to 2024.
Across the 30 countries, the share of people with low or no trust in the national government (44%) outweighed the share of those with high or moderately high trust (39%).
The countries included are mostly in Europe — Australia, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom — plus New Zealand, Korea, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Costa Rica.
“The results of this latest edition of our Trust Survey shows citizens’ want a greater voice in decision making – to ensure it is fair, evidence-based, accountable, and clearly communicated,” OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said in a statement.
