GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ - Americans have more confidence in small business and the military than in any of 13 other institutions evaluated in a recent Gallup poll. The military's confidence rating, however, has dropped since last year, perhaps reflecting the high levels of negative publicity surrounding the sexual activities of various military officers and enlisted personnel. Small business was evaluated for the first time in several decades this year, and its high confidence rating stands in sharp contrast to the much lower confidence expressed in big business.
The public also gives high confidence ratings to the police and organized religion. Additionally, Americans remain much more confident in the Supreme Court and the Presidency than they do in Congress. The latter sits at the bottom of the confidence list alongside the criminal justice system and organized labor.
Some Changes Evident over Time
Gallup has been asking the public to rate its confidence in major
American institutions since the early 1970s. Not all institutions
included in the current rating have been tracked throughout this
full period of time, but some changes are clearly evident from an
analysis of those for which there are trends over times:
- Confidence in many of the nation's institutions has been dropping from previously higher levels. In particular, confidence in the church or organized religion, banks, public schools, organized labor, and Congress is down from the 1970s and 1980s.
- Although the military remains at the top of the confidence list, its numbers are down from previous ratings in this decade, and are, in fact, at their lowest since 1988. The military received its all-time high confidence rating in a poll conducted immediately after the end of the Gulf War in March of 1991, at which time 85% of the public expressed high confidence in the nation's armed forces. Confidence in the military generally remained between 64% and 69% during five measurement periods since that time. The 60% rating this year is below last year's 66% confidence rating, perhaps as a result of the lingering effects of the highly visible adultery and sexual harassment charges associated with members of the military over the past year
- The nation's banks underwent a significant dip in confidence in the late 1980s and early 1990s, coincident with the savings and loan crisis. Banks have experienced a slight comeback, with their high confidence rating rising from 35% to 41%. Still, banks get nowhere near the high level of confidence given them by the public in 1979, when they received a 60% confidence vote, or even in the 1980s, when they routinely obtained confidence levels around 50%
- Organized religion consistently received confidence ratings in the 60% range through the 1970s and most of the 1980s, before falling into the 50% range throughout the decade of the 1980s. Fifty-six percent of Americans have a high confidence in organized religion in the most recent poll.
Small Business Earns Much More Confidence than Big
Business
Until this year, Gallup asked Americans about "big" business, which
has consistently been one of the lower rated institutions tested.
In the most recent poll, "small" business was reintroduced to the
list of the institutions rated. The result: Small business jumps to
the top of the list as the institution with the highest confidence
rating of any of the 15 tested, receiving "a great deal" or "quite
a lot" of confidence vote from 63% of those polled. This compares
with 28% who give big business "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of
confidence, suggesting an enormous divide in the perceptions of
business based on its size. (These results may also reflect a
generalized positive reaction Americans have to "small" entities,
and a conversely negative reaction to things labeled as "big".)
Of some interest, given the current UPS strike, is the fact that big business has a slightly higher confidence rating than organized labor, although both of these institutions are among the lowest rated of any of those currently tested.
Congress, the Supreme Court, the Presidency and the
Press
The form of government which is closest to the public itself - the
Congress - receives a lower level of confidence than the Supreme
Court or the Presidency. Congress has always received relatively
low ratings, but has yet to recover from a more significant drop in
confidence which began in 1990. The Supreme Court enjoyed a period
of more robust confidence in the mid-Reagan years, but fell some
through the early 1990s, only to see something of a resurgence in
the current poll.
There is not a great deal of confidence expressed by Americans in the Fourth Estate. Newspapers and television news are essentially tied at a 34-35% confidence rating. Despite their traditional role as watchdogs and their function as the conscience and voice of the people, newspapers have not enjoyed a high vote of confidence from the American public over the last 20-25 years. The current 35% rating, although slightly higher than the ratings newspapers have received previously in the 1990s, is roughly consistent with their positioning through the 1980s.
The Criminal Justice System: the Largest Vote of No
Confidence
The institution in American society with the dubious distinction of
earning the highest vote of "no confidence" is the criminal justice
system, in which 40% of Americans say they have "very little" or
"no confidence". Only 27% of Americans have a high degree of
confidence in the criminal justice process in this country.
METHODOLOGY
The results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly
selected national sample of 1,004 adults, 18 years and older,
conducted July 25-27, 1997. For results based on samples of this
size, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the error
attributable to sampling and other random effects could be plus or
minus 4 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question
wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can
introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion
polls.
Now I am going to read you a list of institutions in American society. Please tell me how much confidence you, yourself, have in each one -- a great deal, quite a lot, some, or very little? First, ... Next, ... (RANDOM ORDER)
|
Confidence in Institutions July 25-27 1997 (ranked by great deal/quite a lot combined) |
||||||
| Great deal | Quite a lot |
Some |
Very little | None (vol.) | No opinion | |
| Small business | 32% | 31 | 29 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| The military | 30% | 30 | 27 | 10 | 2 | 1 |
| The police | 27% | 32 | 30 | 10 | 1 | * |
| Church/organized religion | 35% | 21 | 28 | 12 | 2 | 2 |
| U.S.Supreme Court | 25% | 25 | 32 | 14 | 2 | 2 |
| The Presidency | 23% | 26 | 31 | 17 | 2 | 1 |
| Banks | 17% | 24 | 42 | 15 | 1 | 1 |
| Public schools | 18% | 22 | 39 | 19 | 1 | 1 |
| The medical system | 15% | 23 | 38 | 21 | 2 | 1 |
| Newspapers | 15% | 20 | 43 | 21 | 1 | * |
| Television news | 14% | 20 | 42 | 20 | 3 | 1 |
| Big business | 11% | 17 | 43 | 24 | 3 | 2 |
| Organized labor | 11% | 12 | 43 | 27 | 2 | 5 |
| Congress | 9% | 13 | 50 | 24 | 3 | 1 |
| The Criminal justice system | 8% | 11 | 40 | 35 | 5 | 1 |
| * Less than 0.5% | ||||||
|
Confidence in Institutions - Trend 1973-1997 (Percent saying "great deal" or "quite a lot") |
|||||||||||
| Oct | Mar | ||||||||||
| 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 | 1991 | 1991 | 1990 | 1989 | 1988 | 1987 | |
| Small business | 63% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Military | 60% | 66 | 64 | 64 | 68 | 69 | 85 | 68 | 63 | 58 | 61 |
| The police | 59% | 60 | 58 | 54 | 52 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Organized religion | 56% | 57 | 57 | 54 | 53 | 56 | 59 | 56 | 52 | 59 | 61 |
| Supreme Court | 50% | 45 | 44 | 42 | 44 | 39 | 48 | 47 | 46 | 56 | 52 |
| The Presidency | 49% | 39 | 45 | 38 | 43 | 50 | 72 | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Banks | 41% | 44 | 43 | 35 | 37 | 30 | 32 | 36 | 42 | 49 | 51 |
| Public schools | 40% | 38 | 40 | 34 | 39 | 35 | 44 | 45 | 43 | 49 | 50 |
| Medical system | 38% | 42 | 41 | 36 | 34 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Newspapers | 35% | 32 | 30 | 29 | 31 | 32 | 32 | 39 | NA | 36 | 31 |
| Television news | 34% | 36 | 33 | 35 | 46 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Big business | 28% | 24 | 21 | 26 | 22 | 22 | 26 | 25 | NA | 25 | NA |
| Organized labor | 23% | 25 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 25 | 27 | NA | 26 | 26 |
| Congress | 22% | 20 | 21 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 30 | 24 | 32 | 35 | NA |
| Criminal justice system | 19% | 19 | 20 | 15 | 17 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
|
Confidence in Institutions - Trend (cont.) |
|||||||||
| 1986 | 1985 | 1984* | 1983 | 1981 | 1979 | 1977 | 1975 | 1973 | |
| Small business | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Military | 63% | 61% | 58% | 53% | 50% | 54% | 57% | 58% | NA |
| Police | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Organized religion | 57 | 66 | 64 | 62 | 64 | 65 | 64 | 68 | 66 |
| Supreme Court | 54 | 56 | 51 | 42 | 46 | 45 | 46 | 49 | 44 |
| The Presidency | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Banks | 49 | 51 | 51 | 51 | 46 | 60 | NA | NA | NA |
| Public schools | 49 | 48 | 47 | 39 | 42 | 53 | 54 | NA | 58 |
| The medical system | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Newspapers | 37 | 35 | 34 | 38 | 35 | 51 | NA | NA | 39 |
| Television news | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Big business | 28 | 31 | 29 | 28 | 20 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 26 |
| Organized labor | 29 | 28 | 30 | 26 | 28 | 36 | 39 | 38 | 30 |
| Congress | 41 | 39 | 29 | 28 | 29 | 34 | 40 | 40 | 42 |
| Criminal justice system | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| *Gallup/Newsweek | |||||||||
