A new YouGov survey finds that Americans are more likely to consider corruption a very serious problem among certain groups of politicians than they were in January.
Americans are more likely now than they were in January to say that corruption is a very serious problem among the following Republican elected officials: U.S. presidents (43% vs. 32%), members of Congress (41% vs. 32%), and Republican governors (30% vs. 23%).
Americans are about as likely now as they were in January to say corruption is a very serious problem among Democratic members of Congress (33% vs. 33%), Democratic U.S. presidents (33% vs. 36%), and Democratic mayors (30% vs. 30%).
Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say corruption is a very serious problem among Republican U.S. presidents (76% vs. 8%), Republican members of Congress (68% vs. 11%), and Supreme Court justices appointed by Republicans (61% vs. 4%).
Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to say corruption is a very serious problem among Democratic elected officials including U.S. presidents (57% vs. 7%), members of Congress (55% vs. 7%), and mayors (53% vs. 6%).
Since January, there have been increases in the shares of Democrats who believe corruption is a very serious problem among Republican elected officials including U.S. presidents (53% in January vs. 76% now), members of Congress (49% vs. 68%), and governors (36% vs. 51%).
Among Republicans, there have been increases since January in the shares who believe corruption is a very serious problem among Supreme Court justices appointed by Democrats (24% vs. 37%) and Democratic governors (41% vs. 51%).
Majorities of Americans think it’s very or somewhat likely that a member of Congress (73%), a mayor (71%), and a governor (64%) would accept a bribe if offered one. 53% of Americans — including 85% of Democrats and 13% of Republicans — say it’s likely Donald Trump would accept a bribe if offered one. Similar shares think a U.S. president, in general, (49%) and a Supreme Court justice (48%) would likely accept a bribe if offered one. 46% of Americans think Florida governor Ron DeSantis would likely accept a bribe; 45% say the same about California governor Gavin Newsom.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say DeSantis would likely accept a bribe (71% vs. 17%). Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say Newsom would accept one (63% vs. 25%).
In January, slightly less Americans (47%) said they thought it was likely Trump would accept a bribe if offered one.
Democrats are more likely now than they were in January to say it’s likely that Trump would accept a bribe if offered one (85% vs. 77%). They also are more likely now than they were at the start of the year to say it’s likely a U.S. president would accept a bribe if offered one (63% vs. 55%).
Republicans are less likely now than they were in January to say they think a U.S. president would accept a bribe if offered one (23% vs. 33%).
Related:
- Most Americans see corruption among politicians, judges, and executives as serious problems
- Republicans are much less likely to see inflation and election fraud as very serious problems than they were a year ago
- How Americans describe the Democratic and Republican parties
See the results for this YouGov survey
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted August 22 - 24, 2025 among 1,080 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty
What do you really think about President Trump, American politics in general, and everything else? Share your reality, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.
