None of the parties has a clear advantage when it comes to Americans who seek honesty in American politics.
A new NBC News Decision Survey Description driven by Surveymonkey asked Americans to qualify the honesty of the politicians of the two main parties on a sliding scale, whether “always honest, sometimes honest, equally honest and dishonest, sometimes dishonest or always dishonest?”
The biggest actions say that the politicians of both parties are sometimes or always dishonest. Among adults, 48% say they describe the politicians of the Republican party and a slightly smaller 44% say that describes democratic politicians.
About a third of adults say that the politicians of each party are “equally honest and dishonest”, while around 20% say that the politicians of each party are sometimes or always honest.
The new data underlines the lack of confidence in the institutions that has reinforced politicians and fed the electoral reaction against the starting parties and political leaders, not only in the United States, but throughout the world.
And the cynicism extends to both political parties, such as President Donald Trump, known for spreading falsehoods, has returned to the White House, and when former President Joe Biden, who launched his successful 2020 campaign against Trump by asking “the truth about lies,” he has faced the serious and growing criticisms that he and his closest allies were not honest about his physical state for his office. Biden has said he states that he was experiencing cognitive impairment while in office they are “wrong.”
Americans are also critical of their own political parties, and most Republicans and Democrats say their own parties have at least some dishonest trends. A greater proportion of Republicans (22%) than the Democrats (14%) say that the politicians of their own parties are sometimes or always dishonest.
On the Republican side, 20% of those aligning with the movement of President Donald Trump “Make America Great Again”, say that Republican politicians are sometimes or always dishonest, and 25% of the Republicans who align more with the party say the same.
Democrats who say they are more aligned with progressive causes than the party itself is more likely that their own party has dishonest politicians, and 18% say that sometimes they are or always dishonest, compared to 11% who say they align more with the Democratic Party.
The distrust of politicians, even those aligned with their views, underlines how Americans are in both parties.
When asked what party fights for people like them, most of the Americans (37%) say that none of the parties, while 24% say that the Democratic Party fights for them, 22% say that the Republican party does it, and 18% say that both parties fight for them.
The images of both parties are also underwater, and the majorities see them unfavorably. Among adults, 57% sees the Democratic Party unfavorably, while 43% sees it favorably. And 56% see the Republican party unfavorably, while 44% sees it favorably.
The NBC News Decision Survey Description driven by Surveymonkey surveyed 19,410 adults online from May 30 to June 10 and has a margin of error of more or less 2.1 percentage points.
