Americans are losing faith in their fellow voters

Data: Gallup; Chart: Axios 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.

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