A Gallup poll shows that a record number of Americans think the federal government has too much power.

An analysis of the poll results, conducted by Dr. Frank Newport, Senior Scientist, Princeton, New Jersey, was released Friday by Gallup, and showed that 62 percent of Americans say the federal government has too much power, while most of the rest maintain that the government's power is adequate.

The results are based on telephone interviews conducted from September 2 to 16, 2025, with a random sample of 1,000 adults, ages 18 and older, living in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia.

This latest reading, the first of President Donald Trump's second term, represents a 51% increase from the previous year and is the highest in the trend since Gallup first asked the question in 2002, by a difference of two percentage points.

Partisan differences reflect both ideology and current political reality

Democrats (and Democratic-leaning independents) have become more likely to say the government has too much power, increasing from 25% to 66% in the last year.

Republicans have gone in the opposite direction, but to a lesser extent, falling from 75% to 58% last year.

As a result, this marks the first time since 2003-2007 that Democrats have been more likely than Republicans to say the government has too much power.

Still, even now, Democrats' belief that the government is too powerful is lower than the 74% to 82% of Republicans who felt the government had too much power during the Obama and Biden administrations.

Is the Government Doing Too Much?

Another aspect of the role of government that Gallup monitors asks the public whether the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses, or whether it should be doing more to solve our country's problems.

Currently, 51% of Americans say the government is doing too much, while 40% say it is doing too little. This is nearly in line with long-term averages.

As a result,These two questions about the role of government have reflected an underlying and largely enduring public perception: the federal government has too much power and is trying to do too much that should be left to individuals and businesses.