President Donald J. Trump
For the first time in decades, anger over corruption is a topline issue in a national election, according to major polls. While Americans have long regarded the federal government as infested with crooks, they are at long last taking names and kicking – uh, demanding accountability.
What the polling also shows very clearly is that we owe this overdue change to President Donald J. Trump, whose self-serving misconduct has enraged most voters.
For a journalist who has reported on corruption across the political spectrum for decades, this revival of civic consciousness is refreshing (and a bit stunning). To be honest, I’ve spent countless hours poring over dusty records to expose misconduct by politicians of both parties, often without arousing much electoral indignation. Two years ago, I published The Longest Con, a book that told how Trump and his predecessors have ruthlessly ripped off the public and their own followers.
But that was then --and now feels very different.
Three weeks ago, Gallup released a new poll finding 89 percent of Americans, a record high, believe that government corruption is endemic, an increase of 10 percent over 2025.
That total includes 91 percent of Democrats 90 percent of independents, 83 percent of Republicans – and coincides with Trump’s return to the White House. Many other polls have reported similar results in recent months, notably a September UMass-Amherst poll showing that 97 percent of respondents perceive corruption in Washington; an August Ipsos poll that found “overwhelming bipartisan majorities” agree; and a survey conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice which showed 97 percent consider corruption “a big systemic problem” in our politics and government.
Recent polling also suggests that voters have observed the explosive corruption pouring billions into Trump family accounts with growing disgust. Nearly 70 percent of respondents to Reuters/Ipsos poll in August said Trump “inappropriately” uses presidential power to reap personal profits. Almost simultaneously, a UMass-Amherst poll showed that 53 percent identified the presidency as the “most corrupt” element in a broadly tainted federal government. And this month, a poll by The Economist and YouGov said that is the word most frequently chosen by voters to describe Donald Trump.
Nobody who covers government, including me, would claim that Democrats as a party are exempt from the crimes and misdemeanors afflicting officialdom. But what we have seen with Trump and the Republicans surrounding him is so disproportionate and brazen as to dwarf whatever came before. In this cycle, we have dozens of Republicans– notably including Maine Sen. Susan Collins – come under plausible suspicion of misconduct or worse.
That may be why Democrats stand to benefit from the renewed public concern over grift and graft. According to the latest survey by Rasmussen Reports, a pollster notorious for its Republican skew, “the Democratic Party is more trusted than Republicans to deal with corruption, an issue most voters say will be important in their midterm vote.”
Should the Democrats win both houses of Congress, they will need to end the stock trading that harmed the reputations of leaders in both parties, among other reforms. And they must fulfill the promise by Rep. Robert Garcia, who would head the House Oversight Committee under a Democratic majority, to investigate “the Trump crime family.”
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- Fox News Raged Over Biden 'Corruption' -- And Now Covers Up For Trump ›
- Trump Family Wins Big Again In Crypto, While Their Investors Lose Even Bigger ›
- Fox Anchor Said Network Must Report Trump Family Grift (And Did For Five Minutes) ›
- Has The Worm Finally Turned On Trump's Staggering Personal Corruption? ›
- The Watchdogs Are Barking Themselves Hoarse - The Atlantic ›
- Trump accused of ‘disgusting’ greed after being paid over $2bn since return to office | Donald Trump | The Guardian ›
- Epic Corruption in Plain Sight | Brennan Center for Justice ›
- Pay to Play: Trump’s Record of Corruption | Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro ›
- Tracking the Trump Administration’s Most Corrupt Transactions | Campaign Legal Center ›
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