The erosion of Americans’ confidence in their institutions is something that has been talked about for some time. However, over the past two years it has fallen so dramatically that many are now referring to it as “the worst moment in the country’s history.”
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Comparable, according to the analyst Charles Lane in a column published by the Washington Post, to the image of the British crown shortly before the United States declared its independence in 1776.
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Although there are various surveys in this regard, the most prestigious is that of Gallup, which annually publishes a list of the 16 most notable institutions in the country and their image before the Americans. The most recent results are alarming. Between them, 14 reached their lowest points of popularity –since the beginning of these measurements, 50 years ago– in the surveys corresponding to 2022 and 2023.
The list includes critical institutions for society such as Congress, the justice system, the Church, the Presidency, the media, the Police, the Health system, the Supreme Court, public schools and large companies, among others.
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In fact, according to Gallup, the average of the nine most relevant of all in this 2023 is the lowest it has been since 1979 when they began to measure with reliable methods (from 48 percent that year, to 26 percent).
If this list includes another five institutions that began to be measured regularly from 1993, the average is also the most depressed in history (26 percent). That is to say, only one in four Americans trusts the work of the country’s institutions.
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Congress, at the head of the worst qualified
As with everything, there are some worse than others. TO the head of the “black list” is the Congress, which in 2022 added only 7 percent support, with an almost identical number in 2023 (8 percent). A dismal statistic in itself, but one that becomes even more significant when compared to the 43 percent support he enjoyed in 1973.
The Legislative is followed by television channels, which in 2022 obtained only 11 percent trust and 14 percent in 2023, the lowest figures on record and four times less compared to their best moment, registered in 1993 when 46 percent said they trusted them.
Behind them come the judicial system and big business, which only garnered 14 percent support in 2022, and 17 and 14 percent, respectively, in 2023, compared to 34 percent at their peak (2004 and 1975 respectively).
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Newspapers are not spared either. From a high of over 50 percent in the 1970s, to a low of 16 percent in 2022 and 18 percent in 2023.
And it is that the falls in the prestige of the institutions, according to what is clear from the samples, is at all levels. Trust in the Church in the US, for example, fell from a peak of 68 percent in 1975 to 31 percent in 2022. and 32 percent in 2023. In the case of public schools, from 62 percent in 1975 to 26 percent in 2023, its lowest point in history.
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The White House and the Health system, in red numbers
Something similar happens with the Presidency and the Health system. In the first case, confidence in the White House fell by half: from 51 percent in 1979 to 26 percent this year and 23 percent in 2022. In the second, it has dropped from 80 percent registered in 1985, to 34 percent in 2023, the lowest level documented so far.
Nor are banks, large technology companies or the Supreme Court spared.
This last institution received the worst ratings in its history in 2022 (25 percent) and almost identical in 2023 (27 percent) after having a 56 percent popularity in 1985.
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Gallup notes that its most recent measurements of the Court were taken before news of last week’s controversial decisions to end so-called affirmative action for higher education in the United States, which could further depress its numbers.
Security forces, what they trust the most in the United States, although to the downside
Although the numbers for the security forces are a little more positive in terms of the level of support, they have also been falling. In the case of the Police, in 2023 it reached a historic bottom with the support of only 43 percent (versus 64 percent in 2004).
The military, for its part, added 60 percent support in 2023. But it is the lowest figure they have received in at least 25 years. and it pales with other moments, such as in 2003, when 82 percent of the country had a favorable image of them.
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The military was one of only two institutions to exceed 50 percent support in recent years of measurement. The other is that of small companies, which in 2023 accounted for 65 percent in a favorable image.
Democrats and Republicans have different perceptions
The authors of the Gallup report also highlight the differences that exist in support for institutions depending on the ideological affinities of those surveyed.
Democrats, for example, tend to have much more confidence in institutions like the presidency. (39 point difference against Republicans), public schools (34 points), newspapers (22 points) and unions (24 points).
Republicans, for their part, are more supportive of the Supreme Court (by 28 points of difference), the churches (24 points) and the Police (20 points).
Figures that put into context the deep partisan lines that exist in the country (a Democrat heads the White House while conservatives have a super majority on the Court), but that do not hide the general antipathy that Americans are feeling towards the institutions .
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The explanations are multiple and differ depending on the institution that is analyzed. But a lot, says Lane, It has to do with the high levels of polarization that is in the air and the era of hyperpartisanship that the United States is going through.
“On the left, fundamental critiques of American society that question the founding of the country itself have gained ground. As for conservatism, Donald Trump has transformed it from a doctrine of stability to a radical reactionary movement that sees conspiracies everywhere”, notes this analyst who is part of the US Council for International Relations.
According to Lane, therefore, it is difficult for a vision of the center to hold when politicians see that there are electoral advantages in destroying it.
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“The United States – says the analyst – has overcome previous crises of confidence, and now it is not in a pre-revolutionary frame of mind. As the Declaration of Independence says: ‘mankind is more willing to suffer, while the ills are tolerable, than to correct themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed‘”.
However, long-term stability for the United States depends on replacing that mere acquiescence with a more positive view of the system than many Americans currently hold.
SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
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