Trust in institutions — United States · Synthesis

Trust in the federal government at a low point. The share of Americans saying they trust the federal government "most of the time" has fallen to around 20% (Pew Research), versus more than 70% in the 1960s. This long-term erosion is one of the best-documented facts of American political life.

Extreme polarization. Trust in institutions increasingly depends on partisan affiliation and on which side holds power: supporters of the party in the White House are more trusting, opponents far less so, with yawning gaps (Pew, Gallup). Affective polarization has become the dominant prism.

Congress at the bottom, the military at the top. Gallup surveys on confidence in institutions place Congress right at the bottom (often around 10-20%), while the military, small businesses and the police retain higher trust. Trust in the Supreme Court has declined following divisive decisions.

Distrust of the media. Trust in news media is low and strongly polarized (Gallup), against a backdrop of fragmented information space, partisan distrust and concerns about disinformation and generative AI.

A democracy under strain. Trust in the integrity of elections has itself become polarized, and surveys (Pew) show a significant share of Americans worried about the future of democracy — a signal of fragility in democratic consensus, to be read as opinion rather than fact.

A structural and polarized distrust. Long-run series from Pew and Gallup show an entrenched distrust that is increasingly filtered through partisan affiliation. Reversing the trend requires acting on polarization, institutional performance and perceived integrity — a long-term horizon, not a measured datum.

Electoral integrity and democracy. Trust in elections and democratic institutions is a central issue, sensitive to the political context and to litigation. Its restoration conditions the stability of the system.

Information and disinformation. Media fragmentation, social networks and generative AI are shaping an information environment where trust is low and polarized. This is a growing determinant of institutional trust.

Trust and state performance. As the OECD stresses, trust is linked to the perceived reliability, integrity and responsiveness of institutions. Public-sector reforms therefore have an indirect effect, but polarization can limit their reach.

The open questions. Three issues will shape the period: (1) reducing polarization that undermines trust; (2) restoring electoral and democratic trust; (3) preserving the information environment in the face of disinformation.

Placed in their environment, the United States shows distrust of government comparable to that of other large democracies, but with a particularly intense partisan polarization — level comparisons remaining fragile.

Comparability warning. The levels of trust measured depend heavily on question wording, scale and survey period. The OECD (Trust in government) partially harmonizes, but cross-country gaps may reflect methodological differences. What compares best are trends over time.

Two cautious takeaways. (1) Trust in government: low. American trust in their government sits in the low range of comparable countries, closer to France and the United Kingdom than to Germany or Canada, which are generally better placed.

(2) A singular polarization. The American specificity is less the average level of trust than its degree of partisan polarization: the trust gap between supporters and opponents of the incumbent power is among the highest in the democracies studied.