Americans’ Trust in the Church Keeps Sliding

After a brief rebound in 2025, trust in the church dropped back near record lows.

Only 1 in 3 Americans have the highest confidence in the church, which is part of a larger general distrust of institutions, according to Gallup’s annual tracking poll.

Photo by Thomas Vitali / Unsplash / Creative Commons

Last year saw confidence in organized religion or the church rebound slightly, jumping from 32% in 2024 to 36% in 2025. This year, however, trust levels fell back down to 33%, only two points above the all-time low.

The church is not alone in its low confidence ratings. Most significant institutions are facing declining confidence levels among the American public. The average percentage of U.S. adults who express “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence across several major institutions Gallup rates annually rests at 27%, down from 48% in 1979.

Historic trends

Gallup began tracking U.S. adults’ confidence in the church as an institution in 1973. In 1975, 68% expressed a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church.

After a downward trend, the church experienced a boost of confidence in 2001, as did most other national institutions after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The church rebounded to 60% for the first time since 1987. That year marked the last time at least 3 in 5 Americans had confidence in the church.

The last year most U.S. adults said they had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church as an institution was 2009, when 52% expressed high levels of trust. In 2018, confidence levels fell below 40% for the first time. They edged above that mark in 2020, only to drop back below it in 2021 and even further in 2022. Despite the 1-point increase in 2023 and the steady percentage in 2024, those years still marked the second-lowest percentages ever.

Political motivations

In general, Republicans are more trusting of institutions than Independents or Democrats. Of the 17 institutions included in the 2026 survey, Republicans had the highest levels of trust in 12, including the church. Democrats are most trusting of higher education, organized labor, public schools, newspapers, and television news.

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Currently, 57% of Republicans say they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church, compared to 29% of Independents and 17% of Democrats.

As churchgoers increasingly say they prefer to be part of a congregation that shares their politics and non-Republicans are most likely to never attend church, congregations may grow politically segregated and struggle to reach those who aren’t GOP voters.

Low areas

In addition to Democrats and Independents, other demographics also report lower levels of confidence in the church.

Non-white Americans (29%) are less likely than white Americans (34%) to have confidence in organized religion.

Older Americans are the most trusting of the church. U.S. adults 55 and older (41%) are more likely than those under 55 (26%) to have confidence.

The more formal education a person has, the less likely they are to have high trust in the church. More than a third of U.S. adults with a high school diploma or less (36%) have the highest confidence. That drops to 32% among those with some college, while just 27% of college graduates say they have high confidence in organized religion.

Institutional decline

Among the 14 institutions included in Gallup’s most recent survey, 12 are at or near their lowest marks since 1993. The average confidence level of 27% is just one point above the record-low average in 2023.

Currently, only two institutions — small businesses (67%) and the military (61%) — have the trust of a majority of Americans. At 33%, the church is among the next tier, including the police (45%) and higher education (38%).

Fewer than 3 in 10 express the highest levels of confidence in the medical system (28%), banks (28%), the presidency (27%), the Supreme Court (27%), public schools (27%), and organized labor (26%).

Fewer than a quarter of Americans highly trust large tech companies (20%), the criminal justice system (17%), newspapers (17%), or big business (17%). The least trusted institutions are television news (14%) and Congress (9%).

This article was originally published at LifewayResearch.com. It is reprinted with permission.

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