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Military Number One in Public Confidence, HMOs Last

Military Number One in Public Confidence, HMOs Last

by Chris Chambers

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- The Gallup Poll's annual rating of Americans' confidence in the country's major institutions shows that the public has more confidence in the military than in any other institution tested, followed by organized religion, and then the police and the Supreme Court. At the other end of the spectrum, HMOs suffer from the lowest level of public confidence of any of the 15 institutions included in the June 22-25 survey.

The levels of public confidence for all 15 of the institutions included in the study have varied only slightly since Gallup last asked these questions in June 1999. The military retains its leading position -- as it has since 1986 -- with 64% of Americans giving it high confidence marks. While remaining comfortably ahead of "the church or organized religion," in second place at 56%, the level of confidence in the military has declined four percentage points since last year.

Confidence in the police maintains its ranking as the third highest in the list of major institutions (54%). Racial identity appears to be a pivotal component in the level of public confidence in the police, with a majority of white Americans (57%) expressing confidence, compared to only 38% of nonwhite Americans. This gap in confidence levels may reflect perceived racial profiling by police and recent high-visibility police brutality and racism charges in the U.S. Age also seems to impact confidence in the police, with 43% of those aged 18-29 expressing confidence, compared to 51% of 30- to 49-year-olds and 61% of those 50-64 years old.

Other highly rated institutions include the Supreme Court (47%) and banks (46%).

Of the three branches of government, Americans have most confidence in the Supreme Court (47%), followed by the presidency (42%) and then, in last place, Congress (24%). However, confidence in the presidency is lower than average this year, despite the fact that last year's score of 49%, which is also the average of the past nine years, was obtained just a few months after the historic Senate vote on whether to convict President Bill Clinton of the impeachment charges.

American confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court is significantly higher (47%) than it is in the criminal justice system in general (24%). Further, while HMOs receive only 16% confidence, four in ten Americans are confident in the medical system overall (40%). Television news and newspapers receive comparable scores (36% and 37% respectively). Big business receives a slightly higher score than does organized labor (29% versus 25%). And nearly four in ten Americans are confident in the nation's public schools (37%).

Survey Methods
The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,021 adults, 18 years and older, conducted June 22-25, 2000. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Now I am going to read you a list of institutions in American society. Please tell me how much confidence you, yourself, have in each one -- a great deal, quite a lot, some, or very little? First, ... Next, ...

 

 

A great
deal

Quite
a lot


Some

Very
little

NONE
(vol.)

Don't
Know/
Refused

 

%

%

%

%

%

%

             

a. The church or organized religion

28

28

26

14

2

2

b. The military

25

39

26

7

1

2

c. The U.S. Supreme Court

18

29

35

14

1

3

d. Banks

14

32

41

11

1

1

e. Public schools

13

24

41

19

2

1

f. Newspapers

12

25

38

22

2

1

g. Congress

7

17

47

24

3

2

h. Television news

11

25

40

21

2

1

i. Organized labor

9

16

44

23

2

6

j. The presidency

15

27

37

18

2

1

k. The police

18

36

33

10

2

1

l. The medical system

14

26

37

21

2

*

m. The criminal justice system

8

16

42

30

3

1

n. Big business

9

20

45

22

2

2

o. Health maintenance organizations, also known as HMOs

6

10

35

38

7

4



* less than 0.5%
(vol.) Volunteered response

Now I am going to read you a list of institutions in American society. Please tell me how much confidence you, yourself, have in each one -- a great deal, quite a lot, some, or very little?

CONFIDENCE IN INSTITUTIONS -- FULL TREND
(COMBINES "A GREAT DEAL" AND "QUITE A LOT")

 

 


Mil


Police

Chrch/
Rel


S.Crt


Banks

Med
Sys


Presi-
dency

Pub
Schls

TV
News


News-
paprs

                     

00 Jun

64%

54%

56%

47%

46%

40%

42%

37%

36%

37%

99 Jun

68

57

58

49

43

40

49

36

34

33

98 Jun

64

58

59

50

40

40

53

37

34

33

97 Jul

60

59

56

50

41

38

49

40

34

35

96 May

66

60

57

45

44

42

39

38

36

32

95 Apr

64

58

57

44

43

41

45

40

33

30

94 Mar

64

54

54

42

35

36

38

34

35

29

93 Mar

68

52

53

44

37

34

43

39

46

31

91 Oct

69

--

56

39

30

--

50

35

--

32

91 Mar

85

--

59

48

32

--

72

44

--

32

1990

68

--

56

47

36

--

--

45

--

39

1989

63

--

52

46

42

--

--

43

--

--

1988

68

--

59

56

49

--

--

49

--

36

1987

61

--

61

52

51

--

--

50

--

31

1986

63

--

57

54

49

--

--

49

--

37

1985

61

--

66

56

51

--

--

48

--

35

1984

58

--

64

51

51

--

--

47

--

34

1983

53

--

62

42

51

--

--

39

--

38

1981

50

--

64

46

46

--

--

42

--

35

1979

54

--

65

45

60

--

--

53

--

51

1977

57

--

64

46

--

--

--

54

--

--

1975

58

--

68

49

--

--

--

--

--

--

1973

--

--

66

44

--

--

--

58

--

39



CONFIDENCE IN INSTITUTIONS -- FULL TREND
(COMBINES "A GREAT DEAL" AND "QUITE A LOT")(Continued)

 

 

Org
Labor

Big
Bus


Congrss

Crim
Just Sys


HMOs

00 Jun

25%

29%

24%

24%

16%

99 Jun

28

30

26

23

17

98 Jun

26

30

28

24

--

97 Jul

23

28

22

19

-

96 May

25

24

20

19

--

95 Apr

26

21

21

20

--

94 Mar

26

26

18

15

--

93 Mar

26

22

18

17

--

91 Oct

22

22

18

--

--

91 Mar

25

26

30

--

--

1990

27

25

24

--

--

1989

--

--

32

--

--

1988

26

25

35

--

--

1987

26

--

--

--

--

1986

29

28

41

--

--

1985

28

31

39

--

--

1984

30

29

29

--

--

1983

26

28

28

--

--

1981

28

20

29

--

--

1979

36

32

34

--

--

1977

39

33

40

--

--

1975

38

34

40

--

--

1973

30

26

42

--

--




Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/2749/Military-Number-One-Public-Confidence-HMOs-Last.aspx
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