This month we took a lead from Gallup – the national polling organization that annually measures confidence in our institutions – by gauging Serafin Power Pollers’ confidence in our local leaders and institutions.

It appears that many Power Pollers feel “some confidence” in each of the institutions we listed, but the police and local news media received the highest percentage of “strong confidence” votes. Interestingly, the local news media also received the second highest number of “no confidence” votes, after the criminal justice system.

We first asked Serafin Power Pollers to evaluate their confidence in our elected officials. More than 45% said they had some confidence, while another 9% said they felt strong confidence in our elected officials. But 33% of respondents said they had little confidence in elected officials, while 12% said they had no confidence.

Next, we asked Serafin Power Pollers to evaluate their confidence in our criminal justice system. Nearly identical numbers of respondents said they had little confidence (39%) as said they had some confidence (37%). A further 20% said they had no confidence in the system, while only 4% said they felt strong confidence.

In evaluating their confidence in our non-elected civic leaders, the majority of respondents (51%) felt some confidence, with 27% expressing little confidence, 14% expressing strong confidence and 9% expressing no confidence.

With recent attacks on media credibility and the proliferation of the term “fake news”, we wanted to see how confident Serafin Power Pollers felt about our local news media. More than 60% of Serafin Power Pollers said they felt either some (46%) or strong (16%) confidence in the local news media. Less than 40% have little (21%) or no (17%) confidence.

Lastly, we asked Serafin Power Pollers to gauge their confidence in our police and the majority of respondents (66%) said they had some confidence. The next highest percentage (18%) said they felt strong confidence in police, with only 12% expressing little confidence and 4% expressing no confidence.

A total of 470 Serafin Power Poll members were surveyed and the participation rate was 20.2%. The Serafin Power Poll is not a scientific poll, but rather a fascinating and non-partisan glimpse into the attitudes and opinions of the decision-makers and thought leaders in the Chicago region. See all Serafin Power Poll articles at serafin.com/powerpoll.