American confidence in the United States military recently reached its lowest point in 25 years, according to a new poll.

The latest numbers from the June 1-22 Gallup poll, used to measure faith in public institutions, follow a persistent dip in public confidence in the military over the last five years.

“At 60%, confidence in the military was last this low in 1997,” according to Gallup. The all-time low came in 1981, on the heels of the Iran hostage crisis.

While the military remains near the top of the list of American institutions that have earned a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of societal confidence, public perception of the armed forces has dramatically fluctuated over the last few decades.

Significant upticks in confidence arose in the aftermaths of the Gulf War and 9/11, while other periods instead observed drops, including after the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

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Across party groups, Republicans remain the most likely to express confidence in the military, however that rate has declined by more than 20 percentage points (91% to 68%) since 2020. Independents (at 55%) have less confidence than Democrats (62%) do.

The Reagan Institute found in a separate survey last year that both Republicans and Democrats, largely for different reasons, say perceived politicization plays a role in their low trust in the military.

A total of 1,013 respondents participated in the June Gallup survey. The poll’s margin of error was 4 percentage points.

Jonathan is a staff writer and editor of the Early Bird Brief newsletter for Military Times. Follow him on Twitter @lehrfeld_media

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