Voters delivered their verdict on Trump’s corruption on Tuesday. Nine in ten told the NBC News Exit Poll that corruption was a crucial or major factor in their vote. They turned out against a president who has enriched himself, his family, and his allies while working families pay the price. And they rejected the lawmakers who looked the other way.
“Trump said ‘nobody cares’ about his corruption, and voters from Maine to Texas to Kansas used American democracy to inform him otherwise,” said Lisa Gilbert, Not Above the Law co-chair and co-president of Public Citizen. “Working families have been footing the bill while the people at the top cash in, and Americans have had enough. On Tuesday, they drew a line. The message to everyone taking office in January is clear: Americans expect a government that answers to them, and they will hold accountable anyone, even the President, who uses public office to serve themselves.”
How corruption drove voters to the polls:
Corruption Drove the Vote
- Corruption outranked the cost of living. More than half of voters told the AP Voter Poll that government corruption was “crucial” to their vote for Congress, slightly more than said the same about the cost of living.
- Voters see a president serving himself. About 6 in 10 voters told the AP Voter Poll that Trump puts his personal interests above the country’s.
- Voters connected his self-dealing to their bills. Sixty-two percent told the NBC News Exit Poll they hold Trump responsible for high prices.
A Rebuke of the President
- Forty-three percent of voters told the NBC News Exit Poll that opposing Trump motivated their vote – far more than said so in 2018. His 38% approval rating among voters was the lowest for a sitting president on Election Day in nearly two decades.
- Voters responded to the reality documented in the coalition’s Let Them Eat Cake: Cost of Corruption report: the Trump family pocketed more than $2.9 billion since the 2024 election, while 5.2 million fewer people now get help buying groceries.
- A Senate Banking Committee minority staff report, Donald Trump’s Corruption Is Costing You: 9 Ways, found that donors and allies have been rewarded with dropped enforcement cases, merger approvals, and tariff exemptions while consumers absorb the cost, including an estimated $26.5 billion from the administration’s campaign against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
- Asked by the New York Times about profiting off the presidency, he answered, “I found out nobody cares, and I’m allowed.”
Voters Held Congress Responsible, Too
- About 7 in 10 voters told the AP Voter Poll that Congress isn’t doing enough to check the president, including about 4 in 10 Republicans.
- Throughout Trump’s second term, his allies in Congress refused to investigate his business dealings, waved through his loyalists, and ignored mounting costs for working families. On Tuesday, voters responded.