A CNN news program. (YouTube)

(CNSNews.com) -- In its annual survey on "Confidence in Institutions," Gallup found that only 20% of Americans had a "great deal/quite a lot" of confidence in television news and only 23% had such confidence in newspapers.

In its 2018 survey, the polling firm asked, "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?"

The military pulled in the highest number, with 74% of Americans saying they had a "great deal/quite a lot" of confidence in the institution. Small business came in second with 67%, and the police came in third with 54%.

At the bottom of the list was Congress -- only 11% said they had a "great deal/quite a lot" of confidence in the institution.

(Gallup.)

Next was television news at 20%. Criminal justice was next with 22% and then newspapers at 23%.

Also, only 29% of Americans had strong confidence in the public schools.

In an update, Gallup emphasized that strong confidence in higher education has declined, from 57% in 2015 to 48% in 2018, a drop of 9 percentage points.

"No other institution has shown a larger drop in confidence over the past three years than higher education," reported Gallup.

"Higher education is not in as strong a position in terms of public trust as it has been in the past," said the survey firm. "The diminished trust in higher education largely results from a decline in confidence among Republicans, particularly those who see colleges as promoting a liberal political agenda."