AMERICAN CONFIDENCE IN SOME INSTITUTIONS SLIPS – AT 9:09 A.M. ET:  Gallup periodically polls Americans on their confidence in major institutions.  The results are always revealing.  The newest numbers show, among other things, something that we're starting to feel seriously – a decline in confidence in public education: 

PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans' confidence in public schools is down five percentage points from last year, with 29% expressing "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in them. That establishes a new low in public school confidence from the 33% measured in Gallup's 2007 and 2008 Confidence in Institutions polls. The high was 58% the first time Gallup included public schools, in 1973.

The decline is understandable.  Americans see what public education is becoming.  Employers see how unprepared many graduates are.  And the anecdotes, told in many families, are building up. 

In addition to public schools, this year's Confidence in Institutions survey finds record lows, all by one percentage point, in Americans' confidence in the church or organized religion (44%), banks (21%), and television news (21%).

Please note that last one.  Journalism's leaders tend to blame any decline in readership or viewership on the growth of the internet, but they're engaged in self-deception.  There has been a loss of confidence, of respect, based on what readers and viewers actually observe in the conduct of the press.

Once again, Americans are most confident in the military (75%), which has finished first each year since 1989 except 1997, when small business edged it out. Small business, at 63%, is second this year. The police, at 56%, is third, and the only other institution of the 16 tested in which a majority of Americans express confidence.

At the other end of the spectrum, Congress ranks last with 13% confidence, followed by Health Maintenance Organizations at 19%.

COMMENT:  Congress and HMO's might take note.  Even if Obamacare goes down in the Supreme Court tomorrow, we are going to have to work on our health-care system.  Listen to patients, listen to their experiences.  Maybe Congress can redeem itself, at least a bit.

June 27, 2012