Millennials aren't, it seems, the trusting type.
Of 10 major societal institutions, just two — the military and scientists — garnered majority support from millennials on the question of whom they trust to do the right thing most of the time. That's according to new polling by Harvard University's Institute of Politics of this most-written-and-talked-about generation, which encompasses those ranging in age from 18 to 29.
The lack of trust in longtime pillars of society among millennials is striking both for its depth and its breadth. No one is spared their side-eyed looks.
The media gets its worst — with 88 percent of millennials saying they only "sometimes" or "never" trust the press. Wall Street doesn't fare much better, with 86 percent of millennials expressing distrust. Congress is at 82 percent. Three in four millennials (74 percent) sometimes or never trust the federal government to do the right thing, and two in three (63 percent) feel the same way about the president. The Supreme Court, once a beacon of trust societywide, isn't seen that way by millennials, with 58 percent saying they only sometimes or never trust the nation's highest court to do the right thing. Heck, even local police aren't spared; 50 percent say they trust the cops only sometimes or never to do the right thing, while 49 percent said they trust police "all" or "most" of the time.
Now, it's easy if you are not a millennial to roll your eyes at these numbers. What could be more distinctly millennial (or just plain young) than not trusting institutions? After all, Jack Weinberg insisted not to trust anyone older than 30 in the mid-1960s, when the parents of today's millennials probably hadn't even met yet.
But, to dismiss millennials' distrust in institutions is to miss something bigger at work here. Societywide trust in institutions is at or near record lows. Check out this chart from Gallup's annual national, survey on confidence in institutions. (This is the 2014 edition because 2015's hasn't come out yet.)
