2 ms·

Even before this new record high, in the previous ~15 years the average seemed to be around 75% (±), which seems… high? I would perhaps understand the US public

Even before this new record high, in the previous ~15 years the average seemed to be around 75% (±), which seems… high? I would perhaps understand the US public thinking that (some levels of) government being "incompetent", but not corrupt. By some measure the US does seem to have 'decent' scores for perception of corruption: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index * https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2025 https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2025 Meta: in some ways it seems that the public's perception of government is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the US there is a large vein of "government is bad/incompetent/corrupt" and that's apparently what the US often gets. While in (e.g.) Scandinavian countries there appears to be a higher level of trust in government, and the people there tend to elect more competent politicians (?).

wat10000 1mo ago
I'd guess it comes down to what counts as "the government." Millions of people work for the federal government, and millions more for state and local governments. Is there widespread corruption among them? I don't think so. And I don't think my countrymen think so either. But "the government" is often meant as just the very top. The President is corrupt. Big swathes of Congress are corrupt. We have a Supreme Court justice more or less openly accepting bribes. Among that small group, I would be comfortable saying that corruption is widespread.
- mswphd 1mo ago
  I (and I'm sure others) would obviously agree. just a smattering of the obvious cases * for years people have noticed that many members of congress use privileged information to pick stocks. * lobbying post-Citizen's United has a very decidedly "buying politicians" aspect to it * a congressman (Menendez) was literally arrested while holding gold bars from a foreign government. he went to prison, but is the only person on this list who has iirc. * the former mayor of new york (a long-time police offer) was embroiled in a Very Funny, very obviously true corruption scandal for turkish airline tickets. the prosecution against him was dropped for no good reason.
- bluefirebrand 1mo ago
  I think there's probably plenty of minor corruption around. A lot of it takes the form of "I have control over funds and I am going to award contracts to people I'm close to" Or maybe soft bribery, like government officials being wined and dined by lobbyists. I'm sure that isn't "supposed" to happen, but I'm also pretty sure it happens a lot. This sort of corruption exists a ton at corporations for sure, so I am hard pressed to think it doesn't happen in government
dfxm12 1mo ago
This is what a steady diet of conservative, increasingly monopolistic, media does to a populace.
archonis 1mo ago
I imagine having over a dozen political parties helps with this as well.

wat10000 1mo ago

I'd guess it comes down to what counts as "the government." Millions of people work for the federal government, and millions more for state and local governments. Is there widespread corruption among them? I don't think so. And I don't think my countrymen think so either. But "the government" is often meant as just the very top. The President is corrupt. Big swathes of Congress are corrupt. We have a Supreme Court justice more or less openly accepting bribes. Among that small group, I would be comfortable saying that corruption is widespread.

mswphd 1mo ago
I (and I'm sure others) would obviously agree. just a smattering of the obvious cases * for years people have noticed that many members of congress use privileged information to pick stocks. * lobbying post-Citizen's United has a very decidedly "buying politicians" aspect to it * a congressman (Menendez) was literally arrested while holding gold bars from a foreign government. he went to prison, but is the only person on this list who has iirc. * the former mayor of new york (a long-time police offer) was embroiled in a Very Funny, very obviously true corruption scandal for turkish airline tickets. the prosecution against him was dropped for no good reason.
bluefirebrand 1mo ago
I think there's probably plenty of minor corruption around. A lot of it takes the form of "I have control over funds and I am going to award contracts to people I'm close to" Or maybe soft bribery, like government officials being wined and dined by lobbyists. I'm sure that isn't "supposed" to happen, but I'm also pretty sure it happens a lot. This sort of corruption exists a ton at corporations for sure, so I am hard pressed to think it doesn't happen in government

dfxm12 1mo ago

This is what a steady diet of conservative, increasingly monopolistic, media does to a populace.

archonis 1mo ago

I imagine having over a dozen political parties helps with this as well.