Barack Obama has said the US federal government is 'so much less corrupt' than in earlier eras when measured by outright bribery, patronage and favour-trading, even as a record 89% of US adults believe government corruption is widespread.
The former president made the observation on his new Audible podcast, A Great Book with Barack Obama, during a conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jill Lepore about Robert Penn Warren's political novel All the King's Men.
'People are always surprised when I tell them the federal government is so much less corrupt than probably it's ever been, in terms of just pure bribes, or patronage or favours,' Obama said.
His remarks came weeks after Gallup reported the highest level of perceived government corruption in the US since its series began two decades ago.
Americans’ perceptions of government corruption in the U.S. are at their highest level in 20 years, with 89% of U.S. adults saying it is widespread.
— Gallup (@Gallup) September 2, 2026
That figure is up 10 percentage points from last year and well above readings in the 72% to 79% range between 2010 and 2025. pic.twitter.com/829dxi4TVm
Obama Points To Decline of Political Machines
Obama was specifically discussing older forms of political corruption rather than making a broader claim about Americans' trust in government.
He told Lepore that politicians in earlier periods could use patronage and personal favours to secure votes and assemble legislative coalitions, pointing to the political world in which Lyndon B. Johnson operated.
Reforms introduced before and after the Watergate scandal sharply reduced those practices, Obama argued. But he said eliminating that transactional system also had an unintended consequence: lawmakers lost some of the tools once used to bridge political disagreements and persuade reluctant colleagues to support legislation.
The discussion appears in the third episode of Obama's six-part series, which launched on Audible on 24 September. The programme pairs him with writers and public figures to discuss books that influenced their thinking.
89% Say Government Corruption Is Widespread
Obama's narrow definition contrasts sharply with Americans' broader perception of corruption. Gallup found that 89% of US adults said corruption was widespread in government in 2026, up 10 percentage points from 79% last year. This is the highest figure in Gallup's series, which dates to 2006.
Concern crossed party lines. Ninety-one per cent of Democrats said corruption was widespread, compared with 90% of independents and 83% of Republicans. Democratic concern rose sharply, from 57% in 2024 to 91% this year.
The United States was already recording substantially higher perceptions of corruption than other OECD countries before this year's increase. In 2025, 79% of Americans perceived widespread government corruption, compared with a 59% median across the 38 countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Two Different Measures of 'Corruption'
The apparent contradiction comes with an important caveat. Obama was referring specifically to tangible practices such as bribes, patronage appointments and trading favours. Gallup's question instead measures public perception of whether corruption is widespread, without limiting respondents to any particular type of misconduct.
That means the two claims cannot be directly compared as measurements of the same thing. Obama's comments also come as corruption and government ethics feature increasingly in the political debate ahead of the November midterm elections.
Axios reported that Democrats have sought to make the issue part of their midterm message, including by scrutinising President Donald Trump's business interests and his family's financial activities.
His point was ultimately historical: the machinery of American politics may involve far less overt patronage and bribery than it once did.
Gallup's findings show the opposite: its 20-year series has never recorded a higher share of US adults saying government corruption is widespread.
