Something remarkable is unfolding across America.

The once-unquestioned reverence for expert opinion — from polished T.V. pundits to Ivy League data wizards — is crumbling.

Despite all the doomsaying, this collapse might just be the healthiest thing to have happened in public life for generations on end.

What, exactly, is taking place? A lot of things.

Americans’ trust in scientists has declined since April 2020, dropping from 87% to 73% by Fall 2023, particularly among Republicans.

Trust in public K-12 education is at record lows, according to a recent Gallup survey, with 73% dissatisfied with the quality of public education, while a 2024 Pew survey found that 82% of teachers believed the quality of education had declined over the past five years. According to an EdWeek Research Center State of Teaching Survey, seven out of 10 teachers feel most Americans hold a negative view of their profession.

It goes without saying that the news media ranks near the bottom of trusted institutions, just above Congress, with survey after survey reflecting that. The distrust is fueled by politicized reporting and the rise of alternate media sources and social media.

Trust in elections is strained, with only 37% of Americans in 2024 saying they have 'a lot' of trust in election result at the national level. Confidence is higher in local elections, with 74% trusting vote accuracy in their communities.

Trust in organized religion has fallen from 65% in the early 1970s to 32%, and trust in the medical system has dropped from 80% to 36%, according to a Gallup poll cited on Pew Research's site. This reflects a broader, decades-long decline in institutional trust across the U.S.

Political polarization significantly contributes to mistrust, with Pew Research finding 28% of Americans holding unfavorable views of both major parties in 2024, up from 7% two decades ago. Partisan divides are evident in differing trust levels for institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with

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