1.0Probably Overthinking Ithttps://www.allendowney.com/blogAllenDowneyhttps://www.allendowney.com/blog/author/allendowney_6dbrc4/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="GQdYLOdIYw"><a href="https://www.allendowney.com/blog/2026/05/19/confidence-in-institutions/">Confidence in Institutions</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.allendowney.com/blog/2026/05/19/confidence-in-institutions/embed/#?secret=GQdYLOdIYw" width="600" height="338" title="“Confidence in Institutions” — Probably Overthinking It" data-secret="GQdYLOdIYw" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://www.allendowney.com/blog/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js </script> This article is one of a series exploring responses to core questions in the General Social Survey (GSS), estimating period and cohort effects, and looking for historical events that might explain the trends we see. Confidence in American institutions In this installment, we’ll look at 13 questions related to confidence in institutions. We’ll start with a detailed look at confidence in “the people running Congress”, and then summarize results from the other questions. The complete survey question is: I am... Read More Read Morehttps://www.allendowney.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/time_model_conlegis_-e47a9b867ea68609944d3abe98446e29.png1145790