Gallup poll: Americans' confidence in military at lowest level since 1997

Public confidence in the US military has reached its lowest point in the past 25 years, with fewer Americans — 60 percent — now saying they have "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in the military, according to a new Gallup poll.

The survey noted that confidence has continued to decrease since the US withdrawal from Iraq and later Afghanistan.

The confidence level of 60 percent in the US military is the lowest since 1997 and saw the steepest decline in the past five years, according to the Gallup poll conducted from June 1-22. The poll was taken through telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,013 adults in all 50 US states and Washington DC.

During the late 1970s to the early 1980s, amid the Cold War, confidence ranged between 50 percent and 58 percent. It had an upturn during President Ronald Reagan's two terms in the 1980s and reached a record high following the Gulf War victory in 1991, according to Gallup.

Military confidence then remained higher than 70 percent for two decades after the 9/11 terrorist attacks before dipping to 69 percent in 2021.

Republicans consistently have had the highest levels of confidence in the military over the past 48 years, according to Gallup. But in the past three years, Republican confidence has plunged by more than 20 percent, from 91 percent to 68 percent, according to the poll. Though confidence among Democrats rose after President Joe Biden took office, that gain has disappeared over the past year, according to the poll.

Independents now have the lowest trust, dropping by 13 points in the past year, from 68 percent to 55 percent.

Despite the sharp decline in public trust, the military maintains the highest level of public trust compared with the 14 other major societal institutions included in the poll.

Public confidence in each of the 15 institutions Gallup included in the survey remains near last year's relatively low level, with none of the scores declining or improving significantly. Small business gained the most public trust with 65 percent, while Congress had the least public trust, according to the poll.

Five institutions stand as the least trusted: newspapers, the criminal justice system, television news, big business, and Congress, all with confidence levels below 20 percent. Congress registered the lowest at 8 percent.

The poll found that public confidence in the presidency and the Supreme Court sat at 27 percent and 26 percent, respectively. The survey was conducted before the Supreme Court handed down landmark decisions on affirmative action in college admissions and college loan forgiveness.

Four other institutions — banks, public schools, large technology companies and organized labor — earned confidence ratings ranging from 25 percent to 27 percent, the poll said.

The medical system and organized religion or the church are ranked among the top five annually rated institutions, although they received confidence ratings of only 34 percent and 32 percent, respectively.

Agencies contributed to this story.