Confidence in the United States military among Americans has reached its lowest level in more than two decades, according to a new poll.
The latest figures from a poll used to measure people’s faith in public institutions revealed a continued decline in confidence in the military over the last five years.
It showed confidence in the military is the lowest it’s been since 1997, according to Gallup, which carried out the survey.
“At 60%, confidence in the military was last this low in 1997,” according to Gallup.
While the military remains near the top of the list of American institutions that have earned a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of societal confidence, public perception of the US armed forces has dramatically fluctuated over the last few decades.
The poll reveals that public confidence surged after the Gulf War, to a record-high 85% in 1991 and again after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Gallup added: “Confidence generally held above 70% for the next two decades, until dipping to 69% in 2021 and declining further since then.”
The survey noted that confidence has continued to fall since the US withdrawal from Iraq, and later Afghanistan.
“The declines this year were across all party identification groups, with Republicans remaining the most likely to express confidence and independents becoming the least likely,” the data reveals.
Overall, the poll found that small business enjoyed the most public trust, with 65% of Americans having a great deal or fair amount of confidence in it.
The three worst-rated institutions were television news and big business, both seeing 14% of Americans having confidence, and in bottom place was Congress at just 8%.
A total of 1,013 members of the public participated in the June 2023 survey.
Source : Forces.net
