Politics
Visualizing the Decline of Confidence in American Institutions
Every day, the public relies on a number of major institutions for services and safety. From banks and governments, to media and the military—these institutions play an important role in shaping life as we know it.
Yet, today’s interactive data visualization from Overflow Data shows that America’s confidence in institutions has drastically waned. The data relies on the General Social Survey (GSS) to provide a 40-year overview of how sentiment has changed with respect to 13 different institutions.
Select an institution from the drop-down menu below to see how confidence has changed over time
The Erosion of Confidence
Overall, confidence in most institutions has eroded. Americans find it especially hard to trust their government: the “great deal of confidence” metrics for Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Executive Branch were low to begin with, and have declined further since 1975.
That said, the biggest overall drop belongs to the press, which saw 50% of surveyed Americans saying they have “hardly any confidence” in it in 2016. This is nearly a three-fold increase from 1975, when that number was just 19%. Of course, with the rise of fake news in more recent years, the erosion of confidence in media doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
Here’s a look at the two extremes of sentiment regarding the studied institutions, showing how the opposite measures of “hardly any confidence” and a “great deal of confidence” have changed since 1975:
Institution | Confidence level | 1975 | 2016 | Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
🏦 Banks & Financial Institutions | Hardly any | 10.9% | 31.2% | +20.3 p.p. |
Great deal | 32.3% | 14.1% | -18.2 p.p. | |
🗳️ Congress | Hardly any | 26.2% | 52.6% | +26.4 p.p. |
Great deal | 13.6% | 5.9% | -7.7 p.p. | |
🏫 Education | Hardly any | 13.0% | 17.5% | +4.5 p.p. |
Great deal | 31.5% | 25.6% | -5.9 p.p. | |
🏛️ Executive Branch | Hardly any | 29.7% | 42.4% | +12.7 p.p. |
Great deal | 13.4% | 12.8% | -0.6 p.p. | |
🏬 Major Companies | Hardly any | 22.9% | 17.3% | -5.6 p.p. |
Great deal | 20.5% | 18.3% | -2.2 p.p. | |
🏥 Medicine | Hardly any | 17.8% | 13.4% | -4.4 p.p. |
Great deal | 51.8% | 50.6% | -1.2 p.p. | |
🎖️ Military | Hardly any | 14.8% | 7.6% | -7.2 p.p. |
Great deal | 36.3% | 53.4% | +17.1 p.p. | |
💪 Organized Labor | Hardly any | 31.5% | 22.6% | -8.9 p.p. |
Great deal | 10.2% | 13.9% | +3.7 p.p. | |
🙏 Religion | Hardly any | 23.0% | 26.4% | +3.4 p.p. |
Great deal | 25.8% | 20.0% | -5.8 p.p. | |
📰 Press | Hardly any | 19.0% | 50.0% | +31 p.p. |
Great deal | 24.5% | 7.6% | -16.9 p.p. | |
🥼 Scientific Community | Hardly any | 7.4% | 6.1% | -1.3 p.p. |
Great deal | 41.7% | 42.1% | +0.4 p.p. | |
📺 Television | Hardly any | 23.4% | 43.1% | +19.7 p.p. |
Great deal | 18.4% | 9.8% | -8.6 p.p. | |
⚖️ U.S. Supreme Court | Hardly any | 19.2% | 17.4% | -1.8 p.p. |
Great deal | 31.8% | 26.3% | -5.5 p.p. |
Banks and financial institutions have also suffered a bad rep in the public eye. Their “great deal of confidence” metric has dropped sharply from 32.3% to 14.1% in four decades.
One major exception is the military, which emerges as the most trusted institution. Americans’ faith in the military has also shown the most improvement, with a 17.1 p.p increase in a “great deal of confidence” since 1975.
The Split Widens Further
While measuring public confidence in institutions can be subjective, it provides an understanding of where Americans want to see change and reform take place.
For more on how Americans perceive different institutions and the issues that affect them, see how the public is divided based on political affiliation.
Politics
Which Countries are the Most Polarized?
This chart plots polarization for various countries based on the Edelman Trust Institute’s annual survey of 32,000+ people.

Which Countries are the Most Polarized?
How do you measure something that’s made headlines for half a decade but is still difficult to quantify? We’re talking about polarization.
Even within the social sciences, polarization covers everything from racial segregation, to labor skill levels, to class divide, to political ideology.
How Do You Quantify Polarization?
Edelman’s data on which countries are the most polarized comes from survey results asking respondents two very simple questions:
- How divided is their country?
- How entrenched is the divide?
The questions help bring to light the social issues a particular country is facing and the lack of consensus on those issues.
Plotted against each other, a chart emerges. A country in the top–right corner of the chart is “severely polarized.” Countries located closer to the lower–left are considered less polarized.
In the report, Edelman identifies four metrics to watch for and measure which help quantify polarization.
Economic Anxieties | Will my family be better off in five years? |
Institutional Imbalance | Government is viewed as unethical and incompetent. |
Class Divide | People with higher incomes have a higher trust in institutions. |
Battle for Truth | Echo chambers, and a low trust in media. |
Following Edelman’s metrics, countries with economic uncertainty and inequality as well as institutional distrust are more likely to be polarized. Below, we look at key highlights from the chart.
Severely Polarized Countries
Despite being one of the largest economies in Latin America, Argentina is the most polarized country surveyed by a large margin. Foreign loan defaults, a high fiscal deficit, and now surging inflation have created a perfect storm in the country.
43% of the Argentinian respondents said they will be better off in five years, down 17 percentage points from last year.
Along with fiscal upheaval, Argentinians are also dealing with enduring corruption in the public sector and abrupt policy reversals between governments. Only 20% of those surveyed in Argentina said they trusted the government—the least of all surveyed countries.
Here are all six of the countries considered to be severely polarized:
-
🇦🇷 Argentina
🇨🇴 Colombia
🇺🇸 United States
🇿🇦 South Africa
🇪🇸 Spain
🇸🇪 Sweden
In the U.S., heightened political upheaval between Democrats and Republicans over the last few years has led to strengthening ideological stances and to an abundance of headlines about polarization. Only 42% of respondents in the country trust the government.
And in South Africa, persistent inequality and falling trust in the African National Congress also check off Edelman’s metrics. It’s also second after Argentina with the least trust in government (22%) per the survey.
Moderately Polarized Countries
The biggest cluster of 15 countries are in moderately polarized section of the chart, with all continents represented.
-
🇧🇷 Brazil
🇰🇷 South Korea
🇲🇽 Mexico
🇫🇷 France
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇯🇵 Japan
🇳🇱 Netherlands
🇮🇹 Italy
🇩🇪 Germany
🇳🇬 Nigeria
🇹🇭 Thailand
🇰🇪 Kenya
🇨🇦 Canada
🇦🇺 Australia
🇮🇪 Ireland
Some are on the cusp of being severely polarized, including economic heavyweights like Japan, the UK, France, and Germany. On the other hand, smaller economies like Thailand, Kenya, and Nigeria, are doing comparatively better on the polarization chart.
Less Polarized Countries
Countries with fair economic outlook and high trust in institutions including China, Singapore, and India are in the bottom left sector of the chart.
-
🇮🇩 Indonesia
🇨🇳 China
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
🇸🇬 Singapore
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
🇲🇾 Malaysia
🇮🇳 India
It’s interesting to note that of the seven countries in that sector, three are not democracies. That said, there are also more developing countries on this list as well, which could also be a factor.
Looking Ahead
Edelman notes that polarization is both “cause and consequence of distrust,” creating a self-fulfilling cycle. Aside from the four metrics stated above, concerns about the erosion of civility and weakening social fabric also lead to polarization.
As global events unfold in 2023—including looming worries of a recession—it will be fascinating to see how countries might switch positions in the year to come.
Where does this data come from?
Source: The 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer
Data note: Survey conducted: Nov 1 – Nov 28, 2022. Survey included 32,000+ respondents in 28 countries. Russia was omitted from this year’s survey. See page 2 of the report for more details.
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