US confidence hits rock-bottom of G7 nations: Poll

Americans’ faith in their leaders has plummeted over the last decade-and-a-half to the lowest levels among the major Western powers, a new survey has found.

According to the Gallup poll released Monday, just 31% of US respondents said they had confidence in their national government, while 69% said they did not.

Among the Group of Seven nationals, the poll found Germans (61%) had the most belief in their national government, followed by Canadians (51%), the French (46%), the Japanese (43%), the Italians (41%) and the British (33%).

Confidence in the American and British governments has declined steeply from 2006, when Gallup first measured the metric. Back then, the US led the G7 with 56% of Americans saying they had confidence in Washington. The UK (49%) had the second-highest confidence level, followed by Canada (44%), Japan (35%), Germany and France (32% each), and Italy (24%).

Both the US and UK have been rocked by political turmoil over recent years. Britain has faced economic strife over the 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union, while the US has been ensnared by deep and bitter domestic divisions over a variety of social and cultural issues.

Results of Monday’s Gallup poll track with other findings from the firm last week that detected a slump in national pride.

A mere 39% of adults said they are “extremely proud” to be American, a slight uptick from last year’s record low 38%, according to the annual survey.

Only 29% of Americans said they were “very proud” to be from the US, while 22% were “moderately proud,” 7% were “only a little,” proud and 4% weren’t proud at all, per the poll,

National pride, defined as Americans who were “extremely” or “very” proud to be so, hovered between 87% and 91% between 2001 and 2004 in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but has experienced a precipitous drop in the two decades since.

The United States celebrated its 247th birthday on Tuesday.