CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Americans’ confidence in the U.S. military has continued to fall since 2018. A new Gallup poll calculating trust in the nation’s defense agencies revealed confidence had hit its lowest point in over two decades.

The Gallup poll showed only 60% of Americans have confidence in the nation’s military. The last time it was this low was in 1997, and the time before that it was lower was in 1988 at 58%.

Confidence in the military has generally held above 70% for the past two decades, with some years dropping below the 60 percentile after significant world events such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Republicans have been the most likely to maintain confidence in America’s military; however, their rate has declined by over 20 points in the past three years, from 91% to 68%, the poll revealed.

Democrats have remained hovering above the 60% line, but independents, who had previously had more confidence in the military than Democrats, now have less confidence than all three parties. In the last three years, independents’ confidence in the military dropped 13 points, from 68% to 55%.

Not only has confidence in the military declined, but leaders have been combatting a serious shortfall in recruiting that’s in the tens of thousands. It’s a major effort to maintain a defense that has for centuries been declared the very best in the world.