Confidence in U.S. Institutions Down; Average at New Low
webCredibility Rating
High quality. Established institution or organization with editorial oversight and accountability.
Rating inherited from publication venue: Gallup
Relevant as background data on the erosion of public trust in institutions, which affects the political feasibility of AI governance and safety regulation; useful for understanding the societal context in which AI policy must operate.
Metadata
Summary
A 2022 Gallup poll found that Americans' confidence in major U.S. institutions reached a new historical low, with significant declines across government, media, and other sectors. The survey highlights deepening public distrust in foundational societal structures, with particularly sharp drops in confidence in Congress, the presidency, and the Supreme Court. This erosion of institutional trust has broad implications for governance, democratic stability, and the social fabric needed to address collective challenges.
Key Points
- •Average confidence across 16 major U.S. institutions hit a new record low in 2022, continuing a multi-decade decline.
- •Only 7% of Americans expressed high confidence in Congress, among the lowest-rated institutions surveyed.
- •Trust in media institutions, including newspapers and television news, remained near historically low levels.
- •Partisan polarization is a key driver, with confidence levels diverging sharply along political lines.
- •Declining institutional trust complicates collective governance responses to major challenges including AI regulation and disinformation.
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Confidence in U.S. Institutions Down; Average at New Low
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Confidence in U.S. Institutions Down; Average at New Low
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Story Highlights
Significant declines in confidence for 11 of 16 institutions tested
Average confidence across all institutions at new low of 27%
Public most confident in small business; least in Congress
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans are less confident in major U.S. institutions than they were a year ago, with significant declines for 11 of the 16 institutions tested and no improvements for any. The largest declines in confidence are 11 percentage points for the Supreme Court -- as reported in late June before the court issued controversial rulings on gun laws and abortion -- and 15 points for the presidency, matching the 15-point drop in President Joe Biden's job approval rating since the last confidence survey in June 2021 .
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Gallup first measured confidence in institutions in 1973 and has done so annually since 1993. This year's survey was conducted June 1-20.
Confidence currently ranges from a high of 68% for small business to a low of 7% for Congress. The military is the only institution besides small business for which a majority of Americans express confidence (64%). Confidence in the police, at 45%, has fallen below the majority level for only the second time, with the other instance occurring in 2020 in the weeks after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
This year's poll marks new lows in confidence for all three branches of the federal government -- the Supreme Court (25%), the presidency (23%) and Congress. Five other institutions are at their lowest points in at least three decades of measurement, including the church or organized religion (31%), newspapers (16%), the criminal justice system (14%), big business (14%) and the police.
Confidence in large technology companies is also at a low point (26%) but has only been measured the past three years.
Record-Low Confidence Across All Institutions
Gallup summarizes Americans' overall confidence in institutions by taking an average of the ratings of the 14 institutions it measures consistently each year -- all but small business and large technology companies. This year's 27% average of U.S. adults expressing "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in those 14 institutions is three points below the prior low from 2014.
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The confidence
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