The share of Americans who believe corruption is widespread throughout the government has climbed to a record high of 89%, according to a poll released by Gallup on Wednesday. The result is up 10 percentage points from just last year and is well above both the 59% who said corruption is widespread back in 2006 and the more recent poll readings between 70% and 75%.
The change is driven largely by Democrats — but perceptions of corruption among Republicans and independents have risen, too.
In 2024, the last year of Joe Biden’s presidency, 57% of Democrats told Gallup that corruption was widespread in government. That jumped to 76% in Trump’s first year back in office and then 91% this year.
The share of independents who say corruption is widespread has risen from 78% in 2024 to 90% this year.
Among Republicans, meanwhile, the views of corruption have improved slightly since 2024, falling from 87% to 83%.
While some government watchdogs have warned that President Trump and his administration are demonstrating levels of corruption and self-dealing unprecedented in American history, Gallup’s Benedict Vigers writes that the poll results suggest a difference in how Democrats and Republicans view government corruption.
“Democrats’ perceptions appear closely linked to which party controls the administration,” Vigers writes. “Republicans’ greater consistency on this measure — despite the 2024 election delivering them the White House and Congress — suggests a more underlying view of government corruption that depends less on the party in power.”
Those views align with the parties’ broader views of government.
Gallup also notes that the poll results make the United States an outlier when compared to other advanced economies, where the median level of perceived corruption has fallen from 69% in 2009 to below 60% since 2022. In fact, the U.S. now tops the OECD rankings when it comes to public perception of widespread corruption.
