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: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism,” a book that tells 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 that 89% of Americans, a record high, believe that government corruption is endemic, an increase of 10% over 2025.
That total includes 91% of Democrats, 90% of independents and 83% of Republicans — and it 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% of respondents perceive corruption in Washington; an August Ipsos poll that found “overwhelming bipartisan majorities” share this sentiment. A survey conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice showed 97% 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% of respondents to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in August said Trump “inappropriately” uses presidential power to reap personal profits. Almost simultaneously, a UMass-Amherst poll showed that 53% 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 C-word is most frequently chosen by voters to describe 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 (D-Calif.), who would head the House Oversight Committee under a Democratic majority, to investigate “the Trump crime family.”
Handwringing over how to confront Trump’s corruption and misconduct probably led to his second term. No more dithering, Democrats.