The new Pew survey paints a stark political mood: Democrats registering record anger at the federal government while Republicans report noticeably higher contentment, and overall trust in Washington sitting near historic lows—all recorded in late September 2025 just days before the country slid into a 43-day government shutdown.
The poll was probability-based and nationally representative, conducted Sept. 22-28, 2025, and it captures a clear snapshot of how Americans feel about the institutions that run their lives. Nearly half of respondents said they felt frustrated with the federal government, 26% said they felt angry and only 23% said they were basically content. Those figures underline the blunt reality that trust and satisfaction are thin across the board.
Among Democrats the mood is particularly volatile: 44% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents now say they feel “angry” toward the federal government, or “highest share expressed by members of either party in surveys dating back to 1997.” That marks a jump from the 34% who felt the same way during President Trump’s first term, and only 8% of Democrats say they are content.
Republicans and Republican-leaning voters show a different pattern, with about 40% reporting contentment and far fewer describing themselves as frustrated; just 9% say they are angry. That contrast reflects a party whose voters are responding to the same national events with more satisfaction, and it points to how partisan lenses shape basic feelings about governance.
The trust numbers are grim regardless of party: only about one-in-five Americans say they trust the federal government to do what’s right “just about always” or “most of the time,” a level Pew notes is “one of the lowest in the nearly seven decades since the question was first asked.” Low institutional trust like this makes policy wins harder to sell and fuels cynicism across voting blocs.
Pew’s long-term trend shows frustration has been close to the national default for decades, but this wave captures a structural movement where frustration dips slightly while both anger and contentment climb almost entirely along partisan lines. The result is the widest emotional gap on record between the parties, signaling a deeper divide than mere policy disagreement.
Researchers plan to keep tracking these attitudes into the 2026 midterms, and history suggests big swings in anger and trust often foreshadow shifts in political engagement and voter behavior. For political strategists and officeholders, that means emotions will matter as much as policy precision in shaping turnout and narrative control next year.
Importantly, the survey was conducted just before the government plunged into a 43-day shutdown, a real-world upheaval that tests both party loyalty and the patience of everyday Americans. When services are interrupted and headlines scream dysfunction, the emotional reactions measured by Pew are the first things to change, and those shifts can ripple through local economies and family budgets.
