Trust in Institutions

Nearly seven-in-ten Americans think it is very important for the United States to be a world leader in scientific achievements.

The United Nations is broadly credited with promoting peace and human rights as younger adults are more supportive of cooperation with other countries.

For years, public trust in the federal government has hovered at near-record lows. That remains the case today, as the United States struggles with a pandemic and economic recession.

There’s a 14-point gap between the shares of White and Black adults in the U.S. who say they have a great deal of confidence in scientists.

44% of Americans have a great deal of confidence in the scientific community, while 47% have only some confidence and 7% have hardly any.

The pandemic has had a divisive effect on a sense of national unity in many of the countries surveyed: A median of 46% feel more national unity now than before the coronavirus outbreak, while 48% think divisions have grown.

Polling finds public trust in medical scientists has increased but only among Democrats – while optimism about a vaccine is broadly shared.

About six-in-ten Americans believe social distancing measures are helping a lot to slow the spread of coronavirus in the nation.

The last year the Postal Service recorded any profit was 2006, and its cumulative losses since then totaled $83.1 billion as of March 31.

More Americans hold positive than negative views of the news media’s COVID-19 coverage, but Republicans and Democrats remain starkly divided.