Only 13 per cent of Americans say they have a "great deal" of
confidence in religious leaders to act in the best interests of the
public. The figure, which comes from new research by the Pew Research Center, means that faith leaders have the confidence of fewer people than other groups such as scientists or the military.
The survey showed that 39 per cent of people said they had "a fair amount" of confidence in religious leaders, 32 per cent had "not too much", while 14 per cent had "no confidence" in religious leaders acting in the best interest of the country.
The study doesn't detail the reasons for people's lack of confidence in the idea that religious leaders have the best interest of the public at heart.
Recent years have seen widespread unrest about clergy child abuse scandals and the political interventions of some faith leaders.
The Pew Research Center said: "Confidence in religious leaders is closely tied to people's own religious identity.
A 64 per cent majority of those affiliated with a religious group, whether Protestant, Catholic or some other religion, say they have at least a fair amount of confidence in religious leaders to act in the best interest of the public.
White evangelical Protestants are particularly likely to say they are confident in religious leaders (78 per cent have a great deal or fair amount of confidence)."