Poll shows nearly 90% of Americans believe government corruption is widespread

A record number of Americans believe there is widespread corruption in the U.S. government, reaching the highest level of distrust in two decades, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday.

The survey of 1,000 people conducted in May and June reflects the surging bipartisan frustration with the country’s political institutions and the people who run them.

Nearly 90% of U.S. adults said corruption was widespread in the government, a 10 percentage point jump from last year, according to Gallup’s poll. The United States also has the highest level of perceived government corruption compared with other countries with advanced economies as of 2025, the year of the latest available data.

Since 2006, the percentage of Americans perceiving widespread corruption stayed mostly in the 70s, Gallup’s data shows. It began to sharply rise in 2024.

In 2024, when Joe Biden was president, 57% of Democrats said government corruption was widespread. In 2025, after President Donald Trump returned to the White House, that percentage rose to 76 and climbed to 91 this year, according to Gallup’s data.

As November has grown nearer, Democratic leaders have homed in on anti-corruption messages in their quest to retake Congress. 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.

During an event to mark the final 100 days before the midterm elections, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries,(D, N.Y.) 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% of Republicans and 90% 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 said.

The new poll does not shed light on where exactly Americans believe the corruption is. It posed a very broad question — “Is corruption widespread throughout the government in this country, or not?” — without identifying specific people, agencies or administrations.

But over the last year, Democratic voters and lawmakers have criticized the Trump administration for what they have called “self-dealing” initiatives — including a $1.8 billion payout fund to compensate administration allies who felt they were unfairly investigated that was later abandoned and no-bid contracts given to Trump allies.

During his presidency, Trump has made historic financial gains, charged by ventures including cryptocurrency that his administration is tasked with regulating. White House officials have said the president and his relatives have not nor would they engage in conflicts of interests.

No formal federal public corruption charges have been brought against Trump administration officials since the president retook the office in 2025.

Democrats have dealt with high-profile corruption investigations within their party in recent years. Among them was the case of former senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for a corruption case involving bribes that totaled nearly $1 million in cash and other items. More recently, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D, Texas) was facing bribery, money laundering and conspiracy charges before Trump pardoned him.

In June, another poll had similar findings about government corruption views among American political groups. The Brennan Center for Justice survey, which polled 2,000 registered voters, found that majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents viewed corruption as “a very big problem” facing the federal government.