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Gallup: 89% of Americans see widespread government corruption, a 20-year high that places the U.S. above every OECD peer

9/3/2026

Institutional confidence is a priced variable in any sovereign capital market. A new Gallup survey found 89% of U.S.

adults now believe government corruption is widespread, a 20-year peak and a 10-point jump from last year, placing perceived American corruption above every other member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development for the first time on record.

The prior range in Gallup's annual data, which stretches to 2005 with at least 1,000 Americans surveyed each year, sat between 72% and 79% from 2010 through 2025.

The sharpest move came from Democrats: 91% now say corruption is widespread, against 57% when President Biden was in office in 2024 and 76% in the first year of Trump's first term.