Topline results and crosstabs for the poll can be found at www.umass.edu/poll

Nearly all Americans believe at least some corruption exists within the federal government, according to a new national University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll.

The survey of 1,000 respondents, conducted Aug. 21-26, found that 97% say at least some corruption exists within the government, with three-quarters saying “a great deal” of corruption exists.

“As President Donald Trump, members of his Cabinet, and prominent members of Congress face scrutiny over their financial dealings and alleged profiteering while in office, we sought to gauge Americans’ views of the extent of corruption in Washington, which federal institutions they consider most corrupt, and where they draw the line on corrupt behavior by elected officials and political parties,” explains Tatishe Nteta, provost professor of political science at UMass Amherst and director of the poll. “We find near unanimity among Americans on the existence of corruption in the federal government, with 97% believing that at least some corruption exists. At a time of intense polarization, when Americans are deeply divided along partisan, ideological, generational, class and racial lines, they speak with one voice on this question, overwhelmingly agreeing that corruption exists in Washington.”

“Virtually nobody tells us there is ‘not much’ or no corruption,” says Alexander Theodoridis, associate professor of political science and co-director of the UMass Poll. “One thing the vast majority of Democrats (81%), independents (72%) and Republicans (69%) seem to share in is the belief that there’s ‘a great deal’ of corruption in our federal government.”

A majority of respondents, 53%, identified the presidency as the most corrupt institution of the federal government, but the poll found that familiar political biases reemerge.

“The remarkable thing is that virtually everybody thinks Washington is corrupt,” says Raymond La Raja, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and co-director of the poll. “What divides Americans is who they think the villains are—87% of Democrats rank the presidency as the most corrupt institution, compared with just 18% of Republicans. Instead, 44% of Republicans put the ‘federal bureaucracy’ at the top of the list, followed by Congress at 30%.”

“With partisans holding such diametrically opposed views about where corruption resides, there is little reason to expect meaningful action at the federal level,” Nteta says. “This leaves the door open to the very corruption that Americans overwhelmingly believe exists in their government.”

The poll also asked respondents about their views on what actually counts as corruption, and broad majorities agree that some forms of corruption are obvious, including self-dealing, political favoritism and abusing democratic institutions.

“As part of our deep dive into attitudes regarding corruption in Washington, we wanted to see exactly what behaviors Americans think are corrupt,” Theodoridis explains. “On this we find more agreement than disagreement among Democrats and Republicans. Americans see giving greater access or promising votes because of campaign contributions as corrupt; they see using the power of public office to make oneself or one’s family money as corrupt; they see using federal agencies to investigate opponents as corrupt; and, they believe it is corrupt when a political party changes election rules because they think it will help them win.”

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“Americans expect institutions to police abuses of public power,” La Raja says. “And on a clear case of corruption—trading votes for campaign contributions—they don’t think the answer is simply to wait until Election Day. More than 8 in 10 want either a criminal or ethics investigation when officials trade votes for contributions. This isn’t partisan, either, as 87% of Democrats and 87% of Republicans want an investigation if a politician does this.

“Importantly, Americans are also telling us that something doesn’t have to be illegal to be corrupt,” La Raja adds. “More than 8 in 10 consider it corruption when officials legally use their power for personal gain, political favoritism or to weaken democratic checks on their authority. Voters appear to have a pretty clear standard: public power shouldn’t be used for private or political advantage.”

However, the poll did find partisan double-standards when respondents were asked to point a finger at one particular form of corruption.

“Using a randomized experiment, a popular method in political science, we show that both Democrats and Republicans are inclined to judge the same action very differently depending upon the party of the perpetrator,” Theodoridis explains. “In the new poll we described a president directing federal agencies to investigate politicians from the other party, and randomized whether the president is a Democrat or Republican. Well, partisanship is a heckuva drug in hyperpolarized America and, like many other things, Republicans and Democrats seem to see corruption through thick red- or blue-colored glasses. It is not surprising that people are biased in favor of their own party, but the extent of the partisan motivated reasoning is staggering.”

“One of the oldest rules in politics seems to apply to corruption: where you stand depends on whose side is doing it,” La Raja says. “Sixty-four percent of Republicans call it very or extremely corrupt when a Democratic president uses federal agencies to investigate Republican opponents, but just 22% say the same when a Republican president does exactly the same thing to Democrats—a remarkable 42-point partisan swing. We did not use the name Trump in our question, but it is likely that some Republicans were thinking about defending his actions in their responses. Democrats show a double standard too, although a smaller one. We have a bipartisan view that this type of behavior is corrupt, but we apply it differently depending on whether the president is ‘on our team.’”

“We’ve long known that voter evaluations of politicians and their behavior are partisan Rorschach tests,” Theodoridis says, “but when partisanship so starkly colors our perceptions of corruption, it can lead to dangerous erosion of norms and threaten our democracy.”
 

Americans don’t trust Trump to avoid corruption

The new UMass Amherst Poll also asked respondents about their levels of trust in Trump to fairly uphold his office, as well as their views on some of the more questioned dealings of his presidency.

“Donald Trump has broken with precedent, and longstanding norms, by advancing his business interests during his presidency,” says Jesse Rhodes, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and co-director of the poll. “Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures—where he has made an estimated $1.4 billion during his presidency—have received a great deal of public and media attention. These ventures are not popular: 77% of Americans think Trump should not be profiting from such business ventures and 52% believe he ‘definitely should not’ be doing so. Importantly, Trump’s high-profile business ventures during his presidency are likely eroding public trust in his presidency, as 66% of Americans do not trust Trump to avoid using his position as president to benefit his family’s business interests and 61% lack confidence in his ability to make decisions that serve the public interest.”

“At a time when many Americans are struggling to make ends meet, the perception that the president and his family are profiting from his position could provide Democrats with a potent political issue,” Nteta says. “Democrats are likely to make Trump’s finances a central feature of their campaigns as they seek to mobilize an electorate that is increasingly skeptical that the president is putting the interests of the American people first.”

In addition to Americans lacking trust in Trump to act ethically in regards to his finances, they also strongly oppose his efforts to spread his name and likeness throughout the federal government.

“For decades, Donald Trump has been placing, or allowing others to place, his name on buildings, entities and products. That proclivity to attach the Trump brand to things has notably extended into his second administration,” Theodoridis explains. “Rather than leave others down the road to cement his legacy by affixing his name or visage to government institutions or buildings, Trump and those around him have sought to do it themselves. Our results show precious little support, and strong opposition, to this Trump branding. A mere 12% of respondents support hanging banners with Trump’s picture on federal buildings, while 61% oppose such banners. Just 14% of Americans want Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center, while 62% do not want it added. Only 20% of respondents say they support naming a battleship class after Trump, while 56% oppose it. Even among Republicans and Trump voters, these exercises in self-promotion lack majority support—fewer than one-third of Republicans say they support Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center or his picture on government buildings, and fewer than half support naming a battleship class after him.”

“The proposals to put Trump’s name or image on institutions are wildly unpopular,” La Raja says, “but, among ‘very much MAGA’ Republicans, support jumps to 62% for adding his name to the Kennedy Center, 75% for naming a Navy battleship class after him, and 50% for hanging Trump banners on federal buildings.”
 

A country—and economy—on the wrong track

The latest UMass Amherst Poll also found that nearly 7 in 10 Americans (69%) believe the country is currently on the wrong track.

“This represents a 15-point increase since we last polled in April 2025, during the first months of the Trump presidency, and reflects a strikingly negative assessment of the president’s ability to deliver on his promise to restore American greatness,” Nteta says. “Perhaps most notably, this increasingly dour outlook has reached even the president’s most ardent supporters. Since April 2025, the share of Republicans who believe the country is on the wrong track has more than doubled, from 15% to 37%, as have the shares of conservatives (18% to 40%) and Trump voters (16% to 34%) who hold this view. With the midterm elections only months away, President Trump and congressional Republicans face a difficult challenge in reversing these increasingly negative perceptions of the nation’s direction.”

One of the main drivers of the declining view of the nation’s standing may be found in the poll respondents’ equally depreciating assessment of the economy.

“Americans’ view of the national economy, which has been grim for some time, has deteriorated further during Trump’s presidency,” Rhodes says. “Just before Trump’s election, in October 2024, 32% rated the national economy as ‘fair,’ and 36% viewed it as ‘poor.’ But now those perceptions are at 39% and 41%, respectively. These numbers should be keeping Republicans up at night. When 80% of Americans have a dim view of the economy, it spells bad news for the party in power.”

“Americans don’t need an economist to tell them how the economy is doing,” La Raja says, “they’re looking at their grocery bills, utility bills and gas prices. Eighty-two percent say grocery prices have increased in recent months, 78% say gas prices have risen, and 77% say utilities have gone up. It’s hardly surprising that 4 in 5 Americans now describe the national economy as fair or poor.”

“Americans’ views of their personal economic circumstances are somewhat better than their perceptions of the national economy, but they’re still not good at all,” Rhodes adds. “Our survey results suggest that Americans’ negative evaluations of their personal economic circumstances are likely tied to their concerns about inflation, and they perceive that basic necessities are becoming more expensive. When inflation hits peoples’ pocketbooks, their economic outlooks turn sour quickly.”

Nteta agrees, noting that, “Since we last asked Americans about their perceptions of costs, we find substantial increases in the share reporting higher prices for groceries (12 percentage points), utilities (14 points), and, most dramatically, gas (37 points).” 

“Like last year, a majority of Americans (53%) blame President Trump for these developments,” Rhodes says. “In bad news for the president, the belief that he bears the lion’s share of the blame is shared among virtually all demographic groups. Only Trump’s strongest supporters—Republicans and 2024 Trump voters—place the blame elsewhere.”

“If President Trump fails to address the affordability crisis, he could find himself facing a Democratically controlled Congress come January 2027,” Nteta says.
 

Methodology

This University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll of 1,000 respondents nationally was conducted by YouGov Aug. 21-26. The respondents were matched to a sampling frame on gender, age, race and education. The sampling frame was constructed by stratified sampling from the full 2023 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year sample with selection within strata by weighted sampling with replacements (using the person weights on the public use file).

The matched cases were weighted to the sampling frame using propensity scores. The matched cases and the frame were combined, and a logistic regression was estimated for inclusion in the frame. The propensity score function included age, gender, race/ethnicity, years of education, region and home ownership. The propensity scores were grouped into deciles of the estimated propensity score in the frame and post-stratified according to these deciles.

The weights were then raked (iterative proportional fitting) on 2024 presidential vote choice and post-stratified using a four-way stratification of gender, age (4-categories), race (4-categories) and education (4-categories) to produce the final weight.

The margin of error of this poll is 3.5%.

Topline results and crosstabs for the poll can be found at www.umass.edu/poll