January 11, 2026
Content. Frustrated. Or angry? What is the best word to describe your feelings towards the federal government right now? And do you trust the US government to do the right thing?
I promise this video is not rage bait. I am asking you these questions because – generally I’m interested but also because there is some very interesting new data coming out from the Pew Research Center that answers those very questions.
Ok – so in case you’re unaware Pew Research Center is what’s called a fact tank. Not a think tank. A fact tank… and it’s a nonpartisan organization that researches interesting topics like this one. They’ve been around since 2004.
So when it comes to the word you would use to describe your feelings towards the United States government – the pew study said (49%) of Americans used the word frustrated. (26%) said they were angry. And (23%) said they are basically content. Yes – they did sample people who align with all parties and yes they included Trump supporters. It’s also worth noting that this data was collected in late September of 2025 *before* the government shutdown …so chances are these numbers are worse now.
But I want to put this new data in context. – if we look back through history going back to October of 1997– you can see –that frustration is the word people most associate with their feelings towards government….that is shown in that orange color in the middle. But what’s really interesting about this latest data is in September of 2025 frustration was the lowest its been since November of 2001. But *anger* is the highest it’s been since October of 2013. And basically content is the highest it’s been since April of 2021.
Now – if you break those feelings down by party – 44% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents say they feel angry. And just 9% of Republicans and Republican leaners felt angry. 40% of Republicans and Republican leaners say they are basically content with the US government and only 8% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they are basically content. Shocking in know.
You can see on these graphs – one is angry and one is basically content…the trend is when a Republican president is in power generally Republicans are content and Democrats are angry. And when a Democratic president is in power Democrats are content and Republicans are angry. That’s not rocket science. But what’s interesting is there was really only one time in the modern era that Republicans and Democrats were both basically content and had the same low level of anger towards the US government and that was around 2001 during the George W Bush era – right around September 11th.
And the last point I want to make is – there is one other thing we all generally agree on. According to pew’s research – only a small percentage of Americans trust the US government.
You can see if we go back to 1960 – that trust has eroded. Just 17% of Americans now say they trust the US government to do what is right “just about always” or “most of the time.” Only 9% of Democrats trust the US government to do the right thing which is the lowest number in nearly 70 years of polling data. And only 26% of Republicans trust the federal government to do the right thing all or most of the time.
Read more about the “frustration,” “anger,” “content” numbers here.
Read more about the “trust” numbers here.
