Americans’ confidence in banks dipped five percentage points in 2021, consistent with an overall trend of lessening confidence in institutions after upticks during 2020, according to an annual Gallup survey released last week. Thirty-three percent of Americans reported “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in their banks, and that figure was up 12 points from the record low notched in 2012. Confidence in banks during had reached 38% during 2020—points behind the peak public confidence level reached in 2004.
Banks ranked behind small businesses, the military, the police, the medical system, the presidency, organized religion and the Supreme Court, and ahead of public schools, large technology companies, organized labor and newspapers, among others. Year-on-year decreases in confidence ran as high as 9% for public schools and 7% for the medical system. The only institution of the 16 tracked to record an increase in confidence from 2020 was the police. Congress had the lowest rating according to the Gallup poll, with a mere 12% expressing “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence.
