Military’s Image Better Than Religion, Poll Shows

It is no secret that confidence in most American institutions has dropped in recent years, and organized religion is no exception.

In fact, Americans say the military inspires considerably more confidence than the church, which ranks just a smidgen above police.

Among institutions with a public image well below those top three are all three branches of government, big business and public schools. In a poll taken earlier this year, big business, Congress and the criminal justice system rank lowest among 15 major institutions.

Overall, more than one-fourth (29%) of Americans surveyed in a poll earlier this year said they have a great deal of confidence in religious institutions, and nearly as many (24%) said they have quite a lot.

But the total who gave good marks to the church--a slight majority at 53%--is well under the about two-thirds (67%) who express confidence in the military.

Besides the church and the military, the only other institution to inspire confidence in a majority of Americans is the police (52%).

The institutions least favored by Americans are the criminal justice system (17% expressed confidence) and the Congress (19%).

In a 1983 poll, nearly two-thirds (62%) of Americans favored the church over all other institutions. The military ranked second, inspiring confidence at the same level as the church did this year.

The 1993 results were obtained March 22-24 in telephone interviews with 1,003 people 18 or older. Error because of sampling or other effects could be 3 percentage points in either direction.