President Donald Trump's second term has been rife with accusations of corruption, from the president earning between $1 billion and $2 billion from his cryptocurrency ventures and offering a $1.8 billion slush fund to his political supporters to his sons getting involved in a lucrative Kazakhstan tungsten mine deal. According to a recent survey, all of this corruption has caused Americans to suspect that corruption is pervasive in their government — and to feel that way at an unprecedented scale.
"Breaking: @Gallup has dropped a new poll that’s consistent with our own corruption survey findings: the American public’s alarm over political corruption is at record highs and is driving broader distrust in government," the Brennan Center's Daniel Weiner posted on X on Wednesday. As the Gallup Poll itself noted, "Americans’ perceptions of government corruption in the U.S. are at their highest level in 20 years, with 89 [percent] of U.S. adults saying it is widespread. That figure is up 10 percentage points from last year and well above readings in the 72 [percent] to 79 [percent] range between 2010 and 2025."
The poll added, "Democrats’ perceptions of government corruption have risen the most sharply since 2024 compared with other party groups. In former President Joe Biden’s final year in office, 57 [percent] of Democrats said corruption was widespread in government; that rose to 76 [percent] in 2025, the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, and reached 91 [percent] this year. The figure among political independents (90 [percent]) aligns more closely with Democrats’ than with Republicans’ (83 [percent]) and is up 12 points since 2024."
Notably, one large group of Americans do not feel that way — Republicans.
"Republicans’ views of corruption have changed far less in the same period," Gallup added. "For the past two years, about eight in 10 have said corruption is widespread, broadly in line with 2024, when 87 [percent] said the same."
The Washington Post's Praveena Somasundaram elaborated on what all of this means for the American people.
"As November has grown nearer, Democratic leaders have homed in on anti-corruption messages in their quest to retake Congress," Somasundaram wrote. "Democrats repeatedly accused the president of breaking his promise to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse in Washington, instead enriching himself, his family and his allies through the federal government."
Somasundaram added, "During an event to mark the final 100 days before the midterm elections, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) debuted a new line in his stump speech: 'We are going to hold the crooks accountable.' On the other side of the aisle, Republicans’ view of corruption has stayed relatively steady since 2024, suggesting that their perception of the issue does not hinge on the party in power as much as it does for Democrats. This year, 83 percent of Republicans and 90 percent of independents said corruption was widespread. That finding suggests that Americans are accessing political news and information — and that corruption is breaking through as an issue, said David Szakonyi, a political science professor at George Washington University.
“There is a broad base consensus for the fact that something is broken in Washington,” Szakonyi told Somasundaram.