Democrats' Trust in Institutions at New Low

While Republicans' trust in U.S. institutions has surged recently, that of Democrats has reached a new all-time low. This is the result of an ongoing survey by Gallup.

As of June 2025, 37 percent of Republicans trusted the average U.S. institution (out of nine surveyed), while this was only 26 percent for Democrats. A previous low for Democrats in the survey that has been running since 1979 was 30 percent in 2019, the third year of the first Trump administration. Republicans' lowpoint was - also at 26 percent - in 2022 and 2023, the second and third year with President Joe Biden in power.

Out of the continuously surveyed institutions, Republicans saw the biggest gains in trust for the military, closely followed by Congress (from 4 percent to a still-low 19 percent) and organized religion. Even banks and organized labor earned percentage point increases in the double digits concerning trust levels among Republicans in just the past year. Democrats lost the most trust out of institutions included in the survey in the military, followed by newspapers and organized labor. Interestingly, both groups had no or minimal changes in confidence in the Supreme Court, which 48 percent of Republicans and 16 percent of Democrats trusted most recently.

Looking at all institutions surveyed by Gallup, more than 50 percent of Americans trust small business, the military and science. Black Americans exhibited lower levels of trust in U.S. institutions compared to white respondents, according to the release, while both groups were unified by their mistrust in big business and Congress.