Study: Confidence in Leaders Lower

Americans’ confidence in their leaders is lower than ever, according to a study conducted by the Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (KSG) and U.S. News and World Report.

Researchers polled Americans about their opinions regarding military, political, and religious leaders, among others. They asked about their confidence levels in these leaders’ trustworthiness and their ability to perform their jobs.

“There’s a lot of talk about confidence or trust in leadership,” said Todd Pittinsky, assistant professor of public policy at the KSG and lead researcher of the study. “The Center for Public Leadership wanted to begin to get a more systematic understanding, particularly across sectors.”

The results of the study were surprising, according to CPL Executive Director Betsy Myers.

“We had a feeling that the American attitude toward leadership wasn’t very good,” said Myers. “[But] I think it came out lower than we even anticipated.”

The study, which used data collected by The Segmentation Company—a division of Yankelovich, Inc.—consisted of telephone interviews with 1,374 adults of all sexes, races, and political affiliations.

Seventy-three percent of Americans polled believe that their leaders are out of touch with the average person, 66 percent feel that the country is facing a leadership crisis, and 72 percent think the country will decline as a nation unless there are leadership changes.

In conjunction with “America’s Best Leaders: 25 Leaders Who Are Making a Difference”—a special issue of U.S. News and World Report—the study was conducted to give the KSG insight on how best to equip their students for life after graduation, Myers said.

“Students who come to the Kennedy School come because they want to make the world a better place and they want to take leadership positions,” said Myers. “We need to make sure that at the Kennedy School, we are properly educating and training the future leaders of tomorrow.”

Although the results of the study indicated a higher level of discontent than the CPL expected, students say they are not surprised by the statistics.

“There’s certainly been a lack of leadership in the last year,” said Brittani S. Head ’06, communications director of the Harvard Democrats. “I think the current leadership of the country is doing a very poor job when it comes to foreign policy and domestic policy.”

Pittinsky said such sentiments are widespread among Americans.

“I think in general there is a fairly strong signal that people have a strong desire to see stronger leadership pretty much across sectors,” he said. “That goes across political parties, economic groups, and gender.”

However, the results of the study can also be viewed in a positive light, said Myers.

She hopes that the companion study—which identified 25 leaders who are “making a difference”—can be used to improve America’s leadership situation.

“There are great lessons to be learned from these inspiring leaders,” said Myers. “The positive thing that came out of the study is that even though we’re at an all-time low for confidence, there is a hope that tomorrow’s leaders will be better and that the confidence [Americans have in their leaders] will improve.”

—Claire M. Guehenno contributed to the reporting for this story.