The most respected institution in the United States is the military. Men, women, whites, blacks, Hispanics, Democrats, Republicans and independents all have confidence in the military.
The least respected institution in the United States is Congress, which was supposed to be the institution closest to the people. Men, women, whites, blacks, Hispanics, Democrats, Republicans and independents all lack confidence in Congress.
A majority of Americans lack also lack confidence in the Presidency, and in TV news and newspapers.
What other institution do a majority of us have confidence in? The police.
These are the results of an Economist / YouGov poll. It does not bode well for the future of democracy.
If you don’t have confidence in the results of elections or of the legal system or of freedom of the press, why not a police state or military dictatorship?
Here’s a breakdown of what the poll shows about various U.S. institutions, going from most-trusted to least trusted. I took these charts from a post on the Audacious Epigone web log.
So much for the positives. Here are the negatives.
LINKS
Confidence in American Institutions by Audacious Epigone.
The Economist / YouGov Poll, September 22-24, 2018.
Phil Ebersole's Blog 
September 26, 2019 at 11:33 am |
And the reason for the lack of confidence and the lack of trust by Americans in congress and the media is money. He or she who pays the fiddler calls the tune. Voters and consumers do not call the tune when it comes to these institutions, it is the payers who buy them.
Until we change the notion that corporations are people and can buy government officials and that media is enterainment driven by ratings which correlate with advertising dollars, democracy can not live up to its promise.
Americans need to see beyond the myths perpetrated by the 1 % that the 99% have any power. Money talks and plebians just make entertaining noise in the system until the system of control by monied interests is disrupted.
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