Democrats take umbrage at federal government in New Pew Survey

America’s emotional divide over the Federal Government has never been worse, according to a new Pew Research Center study that shows record highs among Democrats, rising Republican public trust — every day captured before the government was put into a 43-day shutdown.

The poll, based nationwide, conducted September 22-28, 2025, found that nearly half of Americans (49%) say they are angry with the federal government, 26% say they are angry and only 23% say they are satisfied.

Pew reports that 44% of Democrats and independent Democrats now say they feel “angry” toward the federal government, or “the highest share of party members in a survey going back to 1997.”

The number jumped 10 points from 34% among Democrats during President Trump’s first term.

Just 8% of Democrats say they are satisfied.

It couldn’t get any better: Washington is facing a looming government shutdown

Republicans and GOP Leaners show very different feelings with 40% reporting accuracy, half as angry and 9% as angry. The GOP’s anger, by contrast, was raised during the Obama administration and bid.

Pew says the emotional gap between the groups is now the largest ever measured.

Only about five percent of Americans say they trust the federal government to do the right thing “almost all the time” or “most of the time,” nearly all of the time, “one of the lowest times in seven years.”

African Americans Give Big Thumbs Up to Democrats, Republicans, Trump: Poll

Democratic Trust in the Federal Government remains in the single digits this wave. Republican Trust, while limited, is higher than it was a year ago before Trump was re-elected to the Presidency.

Pew’s long-running practice shows frustration has been the prevailing mood of the nation for almost three decades, but this study takes an unusual structural change: frustration softens a little, while both anger rises almost along party lines.

That movement, Pew said, signals a deepening emotional and political distance between Americans who are turning to the same Trump administration in starkly different ways.

FOX News Digital requested comment from the White House on receipt of the survey.

Click here to download the FOX News app

Pew researchers say they will continue to track these attitudes in the 2026 midterms, noting that the greater exchange of anger and trust has begun to affect political and voter behavior.

Meanwhile, a new Pew poll offers one conclusion that’s hard to ignore: Americans aren’t divided by politics, but by how they feel about spirituality 2.0.