According to a poll conducted by Gallup among a thousand people between May and June, nearly 90% of US citizens believe government corruption is widespread in Washington DC. The rate increased by 10% from last year and reached its highest level in the past 20 years; between 2010 and 2025, it mostly remained between 72% and 79%. 83% of Republicans, 90% of independents and 91% of Democrats view the federal government as corrupt. Among Democrats, the rate rose from 57% during Joe Biden’s presidency to 76% last year under Donald Trump’s presidency, and to 91% this year. The US rate exceeded that of all 37 countries in the OECD. 71% of respondents also viewed the business world as corrupt; this rate increased by 18 percentage points in one year. It was stated that Democrats are highlighting the issue in the midterm elections, while Trump has been accused of benefiting from it. Trump’s 1.8 billion-dollar compensation plan proposed in May was canceled following criticism that it was a “bribery fund.”
Why it matters
The findings show that perceptions of corruption are not limited to a particular political group but have become a broad shared concern among different voter groups and in assessments of the federal government. The rise in similar assessments of the business world also indicates that the debate is not limited solely to public institutions. The fact that the US has the highest rate among OECD countries in the comparison shows that the perception has an international dimension in terms of trust in institutions, beyond the country’s domestic political debate. While this picture is paving the way for corruption to become more prominent in the midterm elections, it leaves open the question of how this widespread public assessment will translate into concrete policy changes or political accountability.
Background
The US is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 10 news articles mentioning it in the past 90 days; the most recent was dated September 2, 2026.