89% Of Citizens Believe The US Government Is Corrupt – Because It Is [Op-Ed]

It was already bad enough for President Donald Trump that his poll numbers have done virtually nothing but sink further and further into the MAGA abyss since the start of his second term, forcing the president to try to force-feed his non-legacy to the U.S. populace by naming things after himself or America and putting his signature on things literally no one asked him to sign. Well, now, a new poll shows that not only is Trump the most unpopular president in recent (and possibly all of) history, but, under his watch, more U.S. citizens believe government corruption is widespread than they have in some two decades.

According to a Gallup poll released Wednesday, 89% of U.S. adults say government corruption is widespread across the nation.

Of course, there’s nothing out of the ordinary about people thinking governments are corrupt or untrustworthy, and that’s certainly been the case in the U.S. for as long as any of us have been alive, but, according to Gallup, people haven’t been this pessimistic in their perceptions of our governing bodies and their levels of corruption for 20 years.

From Gallup:

That figure is up 10 percentage points from last year and well above readings in the 72% to 79% range between 2010 and 2025.

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% of Democrats said corruption was widespread in government; that rose to 76% in 2025, the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, and reached 91% this year. The figure among political independents (90%) aligns more closely with Democrats’ than with Republicans’ (83%) and is up 12 points since 2024.

Republicans’ views of corruption have changed far less in the same period. For the past two years, about eight in 10 have said corruption is widespread, broadly in line with 2024, when 87% said the same.

Of course, Republican voters are far less likely to admit the government is corrupt. It’s not like Barack Obama or Joe Biden are in office anymore, after all. (Apparently, no one has told Trump, VP JD Vance, or DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin that, though.) If Republicans admitted to widespread government corruption under the administration they voted in, they’d have to admit they were lured in by MAGA bigotry and duped into advocating for policies and policymakers who are harming all of us. That’s why they look the other way when Trump sues his own IRS and settles for IRS immunity for him and his family, and when he signs executive orders to boost cryptocurrency, while becoming some $2 billion richer off of — you guessed it — cryptocurrency.

But as Gallup acknowledged, “Although strong majorities of Republicans and Democrats perceive government corruption as widespread, it is likely for different reasons.” Democrats are always more likely to say the government is corrupt when they’re not in power, and Republicans, well, they’ve always talked about the “tyrannical governments” they need the Second Amendment to take up arms against. For them, “the government is corrupt” is nothing more than a platitude to be spewed along with whatever conspiracy theory they’re relying on in lieu of actually knowing how anything works.

Interestingly enough, when the corruption, spreading of propaganda, flouting of the Constitution, and attempts to expand federal powers are as obvious and constant as they have been under the current administration, the so-called “party of small government” turns a blind MAGA eye until they just can’t anymore.

Either way, though, when nearly 90% of any country believes they are being led by corrupt, lawless people, that country and its government have a problem that officials can’t lie and connive their way out of.

Not that they’ll stop trying.

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