Confidence in American institutions is at historical lows. During the past 25 years, trust in core political, social, and economic institutions has plummeted, coinciding with the rapid growth of the omnipresent internet in our lives. There is a ubiquitous presence of negativity, cynicism and polarization in our society today that fuels this lack of confidence which could have severe consequences in the future. This pessimism is dangerous. However, repositioning the various institutional brands could help create a more positive connection with voters.
When Gallup started measuring the trust in key institutions around 2006, America was at the top among the G7 countries. Today it is dead last. Confidence in the critical institutions of military, the judicial system, national government and the honesty of elections has grown for all other countries and now is highest for Canada and Britain (around 65%), whereas only America has declined , currently at the lowest level (less than 50%). More specifically, American is tied with Italy in having the lowest trust in their judicial system, and last in faith in honest elections. Even trust in the military, while relatively high at 81%, has dropped since 2006, now even lower than in France.
Decline of Trust Everywhere
This trend is very disconcerting because it encompasses every type of institution in America. Since Gallup’s first polling in 2001, the lowest confidence level is owned by Congress. The polling below shows across-the-board changes from 2001 to 2024 for “positive” or how much confidence (i.e. “great deal/quite a lot“) and “negative” (“very little” confidence):
- Congress – positive confidence dropped from 26% to 9%, with negative up from 20% to 57%
- Supreme Court – positive down by half, 60% to 30%, as negative grew 13% to 35%
- Criminal Justice System – marginally lower, 24% to 21%, but more negative 30% to 42%
- Medical System – positives slightly down, 40% to 36%, although negatives grew 19% to 29%
- TV News – positive is sharply down 34% to 12%, with a surge in distrust, 19% to 51%
- Newspapers – similarly, positive is lower 36% to 18%, and negative views up from 16% to 45%
- Big Business – confidence dropped from 28% to 16%, with ”little confidence” up 23% to 41%
- Banks – also lower positives, 44% to 27%, and negatives doubling 13% to 25%
- Higher Education – positives declined 57% to 36%, with negatives surging from 9% to 30%
- Church/Organized Religion – down 60% to 32% and negatives up from 13% to 30%
What Has Caused This Decline
The reasons for this rise in distrust are complicated and vary for each type of institution. However a central cause is the pervasive spread of misinformation, conspiracy theories and partisan media which usually just reinforces pre-existing beliefs, in conjunction with the increased polarization and negativity in today’s politics. For example, some of this erosion of trust for the Supreme Court can be attributed to their 2022 decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, plus the conflict of interest practices of Justices Alito and Thomas. Harsh criticism by politicians add to the declining confidence for justice (e.g. Trump calling his hush money trial “a communist show trial”). Similarly his constant barrage of unfounded accusations about the 2020 presidential election contributes to the low trust in our electoral system.
There are other reasons why trust has declined:
- Perceptions of corruption and inefficiency, including partisanship and gridlock in Congress, influence of lobbyists and corporate contributions
- Rising income inequality causing feelings of disenfranchisement, many believing the system is rigged to favor the wealthy
- Past government failures such as the 2008 financial crisis and inadequate responses to Covid 19 and climate change
Implications
The potential damage from this dissolution of confidence has yet to be fully realized, although it is widely believed that strong and credible institutions are essential for long term stability. Examples of some perils from a distrusting society include fewer people complying with government directives, such as filling out their tax returns, or getting a vaccination during another epidemic, or the spread of harmful content on social media. These challenges are enormous but each institution should consider repositioning its brand image to establish a more trustful bond with ordinary voters. This needs creativity to overcome such strong skepticism and to promote fairness and better transparency. Reforms on campaign finance laws and income inequality would help. Term limits and a tighter ethics code could help perceptions of the Supreme Court. To fight this plague of misinformation, more fact checking is needed, even teaching students to identify disinformation sources (e.g. learn how Finland does this). This is a real thr
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