New Survey Shows Americans’ Trust in the Church Increases after Record Lows
For the first time since 2020, there has been a significant increase when it comes to public trust in the church, particularly in the U.S., has significantly increased. According to a recent Gallup survey, 36% of Americans said that they now have a great deal of confidence in the church, which is considered the first significant increase in public trust in 2020, with 37% being a close match in level in 2021.
The Christian Post reported that confidence in the church had previously been near its lowest levels, falling to 31% in 2022 and remaining around 32% over the next two years. In contrast, the majority support in the church was 66%, reaching a high of 68% in 1975. The last time the institution earned such broad support was 60% following 9/11 for a brief period.
Public trust in the church also varied along party lines, with the increase seen among Republicans (64%), Democrats (21%), and Independents (30%). According to Gallup's Megan Brena, the shift in institutional trust is contingent on which political party holds power at the time.
"… Partisans' confidence is easily restored when their political party controls the institution," she wrote. "The flip side, of course, is that the confidence of the other party's supporters declines when their party loses power."
For instance, Republican confidence in the presidency increased by 73 points, while Democrats' confidence declined by 58 points.
Despite the increase, their church still ranks behind other institutions in terms of public trust, behind small businesses (70%), the military (62%), and science (61%) in terms of public trust. It falls in the middle tier, alongside the police (45%), higher education (42%), and the medical system (32%).
Meanwhile, the bottom of Gallup's 2025 ranking of institutions with lower levels of confidence than the church includes the presidency (30%), banks (30%), public schools (29%), the U.S. Supreme Court (27%), and large tech companies (24%). Newspapers (17%), the criminal justice system (17%), big business (15%), television news (11%), and Congress (10%) are also included.
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Originally published July 29, 2025.
