Poll: Trust in Congress reaches 40%, highest in nine years

Americans’ trust and confidence in the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government is at its highest point in nine years, with 40% saying they have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust in it. This latest confidence reading marks a slight, five-percentage-point uptick for the legislative branch since last year and brings it in line with the executive branch’s 42% confidence rating for the first time in a decade. The judicial branch continues to inspire the most trust with a 68% confidence rating.

Gallup has measured trust in the three branches of government since 1972, including annually since 1997, with the latest readings coming from a Sept. 4-12 poll. The current reading was taken during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s first-round confirmation hearing of President Donald Trump’s controversial Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but before last week’s high-drama congressional hearings on allegations that Kavanaugh had engaged in an act of sexual assault.