Just one-third of Americans say they trust the federal government, less than Watergate-era figures, new research shows just a few weeks before midterms.
Some 33 percent said they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the executive branch, while 28 percent said the same about the legislative branch, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday.
It comes as the November 3 midterms are just three weeks away, with Republicans campaigning to maintain their control over the House where they currently hold a 218-214 majority.
As the party of the incumbent federal government, Republicans are having to address the Iran war, fuel prices and the economy, issues that repeatedly come up as the ones voters are most concerned with.
Meanwhile, Democrats, who are working to flip the seats they need to regain control of the House, while also fending off GOP challengers to the seats they hold, are also facing distrust among their supporters, Gallup research shows.
When Newsweek approached the White House for a response to Gallup's new findings, spokesperson Davis Ingle said: “President Trump has launched an all-out war on fraud across the entire federal government, holding criminals accountable and saving taxpayers billions of dollars. The Democrats in Congress have refused to do anything to stop waste, fraud, and abuse in our government.”
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Inside The Numbers: Distrust Falls Below Watergate-Era
The new 33-percent low for trust in the executive branch, down from 41 percent last year, has dropped 7 points from its previous record low of 40 percent recorded first in 1974 during the Watergate era that ultimately led to President Richard Nixon's resignation from office and second in 2024, after President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign.
Gallup, which questioned 1,000 adults between September 1 and 17, assessed trust across five measures – the handling of international problems, domestic problems, the executive branch, the judicial branch and the legislative branch. Gallup reports a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.
Public trust in government has been consistently declining for the past 20 years, but, besides record lows, this year has seen some steep drops.
Trust in the judicial branch was the highest among the five measures, 46 percent, but this was still a record low – down from 49 percent last year.
Washington’s handling of international issues saw the largest decline among the five measures between last year and this one (12 points), from 45 percent to 33 percent. Meanwhile, trust in how domestic issues are handled dropped 5 points, from 38 percent to 33 percent.
Cross-Party Decline, Record Lows For Independents
The drop in trust in Washington D.C.’s handling of international issues has happened across party lines—from 84 percent to 74 percent among Republicans, 39 percent to 27 percent among independents and from 17 percent to 9 percent among Democrats.
The cross-party drop stands out as Gallup’s historical analysis shows that trust in federal government generally increases among supporters of a president’s party, although not always, and drops from the opposition-party supporters.
Independents’ trust in Washington, D.C., is at its lowest levels recorded by Gallup across all five measures – 24 percent for the executive branch, 22 percent for the legislative branch, 42 percent in the judicial branch, 27 percent in the handling of international problems and 25 percent in how domestic issues are dealt with.
This will present a challenge for both parties in the midterms, as an independent’s distrust in one party does not necessarily translate into more trust for the other.
What To Know About The Midterms
Both Democrats and Republicans are making their final push to win voters over with Election Day fast approaching and early voting already underway in some states.
The battle for the House has been shaped by redistricting wars, with both parties changing the district boundaries to be more favorable to their candidates in those states.
Texas has become a major race to watch, despite not electing a Democratic senator since 1988, with Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico leading Republican Ken Paxton in multiple polls. The RealClearPolitics average of polls taken from September 18 to October 8 has him at 48.1 percent to Paxton's 45.3 percent.
Republican spending suggests they see the race there as competitive. Texas PAC, a Republican group affiliated with the Senate Leadership Fund, the principal GOP super PAC involved in Senate elections, is spending around $7.7 million per day to back Paxton, Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings reviewed by Newsweek show.
Meanwhile, in Michigan, where Democrats have held the seat since 1979, Republican candidate former Representative Mike Rogers has seemingly made headway. While his Democratic opponent, progressive Abdul El-Sayed, holds a slight lead in the polls, it is mostly within the margin of error, and the Cook Political Report rates the race a Toss-Up.
Trump has campaigned hard for Republicans, promising to give every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of both the House and Senate, leading to accusations from Democrats of trying to buy votes. Newsweek has broken down the details of this controversy, and many of the others surrounding the midterms, here.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Rebecca Flood and Gray R. Thomas