Americans' trust in their fellow citizens' democratic judgment has fallen to its lowest recorded level in more than five decades, according to a new Gallup survey.
The big picture: Americans' growing distrust of political leaders and institutions now extends to one another, with Democrats and Republicans showing similar levels of skepticism.
By the numbers: 51% of U.S. adults have a great deal or fair amount of trust in Americans as a whole to make democratic judgments, per Gallup.
- That's the lowest reading since Gallup began tracking the measure in 1974.
- The distrust cuts across party lines: 53% of Democrats, 51% of Republicans and 49% of independents trust Americans' ability to make democratic decisions.
Flashback: Trust stood at 86% in 1976 and 78% in both 2002 and 2005.
- Trust has stayed below 60% since 2018, according to Gallup.
State of play: Americans have more trust in their local government (67%) and state government (55%) than in their fellow citizens' democratic judgment (51%).
- The survey also found that 42% of Americans trust politicians who hold or seek public office, while 33% trust the news media.
Zoom out: Americans' confidence in major U.S. institutions, including Congress, the presidency and the banking system, has also fallen to historically low levels.
Methodology: Gallup surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults by landline and cellphone Sept. 1–17, 2026; the weighting-adjusted margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.