Genius Meme Reveals The Problem With Politics

CNS News reports 52% of Americans believe most members of Congress are corrupt:

Fifty-two percent of Americans believe that most members of the U.S. Congress are corrupt and 32 percent believe the member who represents them is corrupt, according to a Gallup survey released today.

In a similar Gallup survey released nine days ago, 75 percent of Americans said they believe corruption is widespread throughout government in the United States.

From Sept. 9-13, Gallup asked 1,025 U.S.-resident adults (aged 18 or older) this question: “Would you say that most members of Congress are corrupt?”

Fifty-two percent said, yes. Only 42 percent said that they did not believe most members of Congress are corrupt.

When Gallup asked respondents if they would say their member of Congress is corrupt, 32 percent said yes, and 59 percent said no they would not say that.

Gallup also asked: “Would you say that most members of Congress are focused on the needs of special interests, or focused on the needs of constituents in your/their district?”

Sixty-nine percent said most members of Congress are focused on the needs of special interests, while only 25 percent said they are focused on the needs of their constituents.

Forty-seven percent said their own member of Congress was focused on the needs of special interests. Only 43 percent said their own member was focused on the needs of their district.

On Sept. 19, Gallup released the results of a different survey which questioned about 1,000 U.S. residents 15 or older in each year from 2008 through 2014. In that survey, Gallup asked: “Is corruption widespread throughout government in this country, or not?”

In the United States, 75 percent said corruption is widespread in government.

Gallup asked the same question in 37 countries (including the United States) that were rated by Freedom House as having a free press. The U.S. ranked 13th worst among thees 37 countries. The worst was Lithuania, where 90 percent said corruption was widespread. That was followed by Portugal (86 percent), Ghana (85 percent), Spain (84%) and the Czech Republic (83 percent).

But the United States, with 75 percent saying that corruption was widespread, did worse than France (64 percent), Latvia (63 percent), Japan (55 percent), Estonia (47 percent), the United Kingdom (46 percent), and Germany (38 percent).

Residents in Sweden (14 percent), Denmark (19 percent), Switzerland (25 percent), Luxembourg (26 percent) and Finland (26 percent) were least likely to see widespread corruption in government in their countries.