Americans today are having a difficult time trusting the people meant to look out for them. 

In a time where the world is filled with the chaos of wars and violent crime, it’s important to be able to trust someone. Yet it seems Americans are having some serious problems with doing just that as trust in both our government and our news agencies are down nationwide.

A recent study from Gallup and Knight showed how Americans in 2022 had an almost record low when it comes to the trust of news organizations in the country. The study illustrated that over 50% of Americans have a negative view of news media with only around 26% having a favorable opinion. In addition, the same study reported that while 72% of Americans believe that media organizations have the resources required to report factual information with minimal bias, 39% believe that these organizations are unreliable and 50% believe that they are intentionally trying to misinform. It seems as if fewer and fewer Americans each year are trusting the institutions that are supposed to protect them, like the government and the press.

This trend recently of not trusting the government is actually realized in our own schools. According to a poll with 94 responses at Marco Island Academy, very few students place their trust in these institutions. Despite having an even mix of students responding from all grade levels, students consistently reported that they did trusted neither their state nor federal governments. 60% of students found the Florida government untrustworthy and 80% came to the same conclusion about the federal government. On top of this, only 40% of students believe that the Florida government has their best interests at heart and only 20% believe that the federal government wants the best for them.

These numbers actually line up with an article published by The Deseret News about Gen Z’s lack of trust in institutions like the government and press. According to them, younger generations are reporting consistently lower levels of trust than older generations. This dangerous trend can be incredibly harmful as it can serve to divide this country even further. In a time where government officials attempt to live their lives and conduct their policymaking in secrecy, these statistics call for further transparency.

The government would be a lot more trustworthy if they told us exactly what they were doing. A democracy cannot function without the trust of the public as ultimately the public decides what the nation becomes. If we cannot trust the government, we cannot make decisions on how the country moves forward. The government needs to hear the warnings these statistics cry if they wish to have a nation that looks the way it does today because if they don’t, many youths could decide they no longer want to participate in “the great experiment” that is America.