UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 23, 2021
On a weekly basis, Morning Consult is tracking how much trust Americans have in 18 major institutions, from Congress to Hollywood. This dataset provides real-time insight into how the nature of trust is shifting in the country.
The charts display the share of U.S. adults who answered that they have “a lot” or “some” trust in specific institutions within the U.S.. The latest results are based on a survey conducted September 16 – 20, 2021, among 2,200 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 2 percent.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Gen Z has the lowest level of trust for every institution tracked: Only 47% of Gen Zers trust the military and 43% trust the police. On the other hand, more than 8 in 10 Baby Boomers say they trust each of those two institutions. Gen Z is also 30 percentage points less likely than Baby Boomers to trust American companies.
Trust in the Supreme Court fell to new tracking lows in September: After dipping to a low-point of 52% in early September, the share of Americans who trust the Supreme Court currently stands at 53%.
The news media and government are the most polarizing institutions: In the latest survey, 61% of Democrats say they trust the news media, and only 20% of Republicans say the same. The government is the second most polarizing institution, with a 33-point gap between Republican and Democratic trust.
The military and the scientific community are among America’s most trusted institutions: This week, 3 in 4 Americans trust the military and 7 in 10 trust the scientific community, roughly in line with the average over the past 11 months.