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.