The average American doesn’t have much faith in the nation’s major institutions.
Gallup asks Americans annually how much they trust 18 national institutions. Of those, nine have been tracked consistently since 1979, according to the polling company.
Only 28% of Americans expressed confidence in those nine major institutions — including organized religion, the military, the U.S. Supreme Court, banks, public schools, newspapers, Congress, labor unions and big business.
And that’s been the trend for the last four years in a row, as overall trust continues to land below 30 percentage points.
Even as the numbers remain low, partisan trend lines have flipped somewhat after Republican President Donald Trump replaced former Democratic President Joe Biden earlier this year.
Growing divide among Americans
Confidence among Republicans for major institutions rose nine points to 37% this year. But Democrats went in the opposite direction, as confidence levels dropped five points from last year to 26%.
According to Gallup’s past readings, the 11-percentage-point gap between members of the two political parties is the highest it’s been in 46 years.
U.S. voters experienced a similar division of nine percentage points under George W. Bush in 2007, when the Iraq War was still raging.
As for independent voters, their confidence levels have hovered at around a 25% average for the last three years.
Most Trusted institutions
A majority of voters expressed “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in small business (70%), the military (62%) and science (61%), per Gallup.
Least Trusted institutions
Congress and television news ranked the lowest on the trust meter, receiving a confidence rating of 6% and 11% respectively.
Partisan divides
GOP confidence in the presidency skyrocketed by 73 points to 80%.
Confidence in the military and police also experienced an 18 points boost to 88% and 80%, respectively.
Republican attitudes toward the U.S. Supreme Court, which holds a 6-3 conservative majority, remained similar to last year at 48%.
On “Church or Organized religion,” 64% of Republicans expressed a great deal or quite a lot of confidence, compared to 30% of independents and 21% of Democrats.
Democratic trust in several American institutions plummeted in this year’s poll. Compared to last year, confidence in the presidency dropped by 58 percentage points to 3%.
Similarly, Democrats’ confidence in police (29%) and military (44%) dropped by 16 points and 21 points, respectively. Their trust in the criminal justice system, technological companies and newspapers also saw a double-digit decline in contrast with 2024.
But Democrats expressed increased confidence in two U.S. institutions — public schools (44%) and higher education (61%).
Only 18% of Republicans expressed a high level of trust in public schools, and 26% said the same of higher education.