Many young Americans are distrustful of a broad range of institutions, according to a Gallup-Walton Family Foundation survey released Wednesday, with roughly half saying they have very little trust in Congress or the presidency.
Fifty-three percent of voting-age members of Generation Z – which the survey defines as those younger than 28 – said they trusted Congress very little, with 51% saying the same about the presidency and 44% about the Supreme Court. Just 20% said they had “quite a lot” or “a great deal” of trust in the Supreme Court, with even fewer expressing high levels of trust in Congress or the presidency.
More than a third of Gen Z adults also say they have very little trust in large technology companies (49%), the news (43%), the criminal justice system (41%) and the police (37%), with fewer saying the same of the military (30%) and the medical system (26%). Just 7% say they have very little trust in science as a whole.
The results echo the findings of a Harvard Institute of Politics survey released earlier this year, which found slumping trust among young adults in many institutions.
A lack of trust in the country’s political system isn’t unique to young Americans. Gallup polling from earlier this year asked a closely related question about confidence in institutions. And similar shares of adults of all ages expressed doubts about the three branches of government: 57% said that they had very little confidence in Congress, 46% that they had very little confidence in the presidency and 35% that they had very little confidence in the Supreme Court. By contrast, young adults were significantly likelier than the US public as a whole to say they have little confidence in the police, the military and large technology companies.
Young members of Gen Z largely have faith in their teachers, the Gallup-Walton Family Foundation survey finds. A 59% majority of current middle school, high school and college students say they have high levels of trust in their teachers and other adults at their school.
The Gallup-Walton Family Foundation poll surveyed 4,157 12- to 27-year-olds in the US between April 26 and May 9, using a nationally representative online panel. Results for the full sample have a margin of error of +/- 2.1 percentage points.
