America’s Most Trusted: The Military and Small Business

Gallup got some interesting answers in its 2016 Confidence in Institutions poll. Small business ranked second only to the military as the institution respondents had most confidence in.

Most people wouldn’t be shocked that the lowest institutions rated were newspapers, television news and the U.S. Congress.

The military earned its top spot with a 73 percent trust number, including 41 percent who responded with “a great deal” of confidence and 32 percent with “quite a lot.”

Small business landed in second place with an overall 68 percent rating. Thirty percent of respondents said they had a “great deal” of confidence in small business while 38 percent said they had a lot.

Rounding out the top five spots were the police, at 46 percent overall; the church or organized religion, 41 percent overall; and the medical system, 39 percent overall.

The ratings started tailing off after that. Among the institutions ranking in the next five places, the presidency received an overall 36 percent, but only 16 percent responded with a great deal of confidence. The U.S. Supreme Court tied with the presidency at 36 percent.

Public schools registered 30 percent confidence, banks 27 percent, organized labor 23 percent and the criminal justice system 23 percent.

The numbers behind the institutions with the lowest confidence among those polled? Television news was at 21 percent, with 8 percent indicating a great deal of trust and 13 percent quite a lot. Newspapers were rated at 20 percent, with 8 percent a great deal, and 12 percent quite a lot.

Even big business, with an 18 percent rating and often the target of vitriol by consumers, labor unions and various and sundry others groups, still managed to beat out the U.S. Congress, which showed just 6 percent approval.