As a grand jury decides whether to indict a white police officer for shooting an unarmed black teen in Ferguson, Missouri, Americans’ confidence in their local police to protect them from violent crime continues to differ by race, as it has since Gallup started measuring it. White Americans (60%) surveyed […] Read more »
Alarmed by Ebola, Public Isn’t Calmed by ‘Experts Say’
When public health leaders and government officials make the case against isolating more people returning from the Ebola hot zones in West Africa, or against imposing more travel restrictions from that region, time and again they cite science and experts. It isn’t working very well. … “Skepticism about science and […] Read more »
Americans Still Trust Local Government More Than State
As they have for more than a decade, Americans continue to trust their local governments (72%) more than their state governments (62%). Both levels of confidence in 2014 are unchanged from last year, and are only a few percentage points off from their historical averages. CONT. Justin McCarthy, Gallup Read more »
Trust in Mass Media Returns to All-Time Low
After registering slightly higher trust last year, Americans’ confidence in the media’s ability to report “the news fully, accurately, and fairly” has returned to its previous all-time low of 40%. Americans’ trust in mass media has generally been edging downward from higher levels in the late 1990s and the early […] Read more »
Blacks, Hispanics have doubts about media accuracy
A new study shows a large majority of African-American and Hispanic news consumers don’t fully trust the media to portray their communities accurately, a statistic that could be troubling for the news industry as the minority population of the United States grows. … When asked whether they thought news about […] Read more »
Trust in Federal Gov’t on International Issues at New Low
Americans’ trust in the federal government to handle international problems has fallen to a record-low 43% as President Barack Obama prepares to address the nation on Wednesday to outline his plan to deal with ISIS. Separately, 40% of Americans say they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust […] Read more »