The Data: A record-high 89% of Americans say corruption is widespread throughout the U.S. government, up 10 percentage points from 2025.

OECD Context: For most of the past two decades, the U.S. has outpaced OECD countries in views of government corruption. The OECD median has remained below 60% since 2022.

Read More

The Data: Eighty-nine percent of Americans say corruption is widespread throughout the government, compared with 71% who say it is widespread within businesses located in the U.S.

The Gap: The 18-point gap between the two types of corruption is the largest in Gallup’s U.S. trend since 2006. From 2006 to 2025, perceptions of government corruption averaged 11 points higher than perceptions of business corruption.

Read More

The Data: Forty-seven percent of Americans would like labor unions in the U.S. to have more influence than they do today, a record high and roughly twice the 23% who want them to have less influence. Another 26% want unions’ influence to remain the same.

The Trend: The share wanting unions to have more influence has risen from a record low of 25% in 2009, with a four-point increase since 2023. The share who want them to have less influence has fallen from 42% in 2009 to a record low of 23%.

Read More

The Data: Seventy-one percent of Americans approve of labor unions, matching the 2022 reading and extending a six-year period in which approval has stayed between 67% and 71%.

The Trend: Approval is well above the record low of 48% measured in 2009. Across Gallup’s 90-year trend, approval was higher only in the 1950s, when it registered 73% to 75%, and in 1936, when 72% approved.

Read More

The Data: In 1937, 60% of Americans opposed prohibiting chain stores from operating in their state, while 30% favored such a ban.

More Context: In the early 1900s, the relatively low prices offered by chains such as A&P, F.W. Woolworth, J.C. Penney and Walgreens started to threaten the survival of local merchants who lacked the same buying power. Americans were more open to regulating chains than banning them outright. In a separate 1937 poll, 56% favored requiring chain stores to pay special taxes, and 65% said “big business concerns” were a good thing for the country.

Read More