Corruption: Americans’ Top Fear

Chapman University started fielding a survey on Americans’ greatest fears around Halloween a decade ago, including everything from fears of biowarfare to ghosts, reptiles and blood. In the years since, the study’s authors have made several observations on the changing mindsets of U.S. adults. 

For one, corruption of government officials has topped the list of fears every year since the survey began. Nearly two thirds of U.S. respondents said that they were either afraid or very afraid of the prospect when surveyed in 2024, although it has come down from the peak of 79.6 percent of respondents picking the option in 2020/2021. This fear ranks even higher than more personal fears of losing a loved one or a loved one falling seriously ill. 

According to the researchers, the fear of corruption extends not only to the federal government but also to local and state politics. Reflecting on the impact of such a fear, the researchers suggest that the fact “citizens may be attracted to populist rhetoric decrying career politicians and the political establishment could have its roots in distrust driven by fear of corruption.”

Although a fear of the outcome of the upcoming presidential election was not among the top ten highest ranking fears in the 2024 survey wave, just over half of respondents said they feared the prospect (51.6 percent). By party leaning, Democrats (56 percent) and Independents (54 percent) were slightly more likely to have this worry than Republicans (50.4 percent). The authors say this fear is likely linked to the fear of corruption, as well as fears of civil unrest (48.6 percent of respondents) and in some cases, the fear of an overthrow of the U.S. government (39.4 percent).

The results of this survey also tend to reflect current events. Christopher Bader, Ph.D., chair and professor of sociology at Chapman University, explains that “recent world events have stirred fears about war and terror attacks.” Of the top ten fears, six were linked to war or different forms of warfare, including fears about Russia using nuclear weapons (#5), the U.S. becoming involved in another world war (#7), North Korea using nuclear weapons (#8), terrorist attacks (#9), cyberterrorism (#3) and biological warfare (#10). 

Moreover, there has been an increase in general levels of fear reported between 2015 and 2024. Where only the top fear was held by over 50 percent of respondents in 2015, all 10 top fears were held by over 50 percent of respondents by 2018. Bader says this increase could partly be due to the public’s changing method of information consumption: “One thing we’ve noticed over time through this survey is that where people get their information from is changing,” he said in a statement. “Social media and websites target people by showing them things that they are afraid of. Through algorithms, people are being fed their fears and we believe that’s increasing people’s overall level of fear.”

This list highlights that while some fears are rooted in recent events and are rational, others are not or may be overblown. For example, where 33.3 percent of people fear being murdered by a stranger, 22.2 percent of people said they were afraid of being killed by someone they know. This is despite data having shown that the former is far less likely and that crime rates have fallen in the U.S. over the years. Fears are still important though, the study leaders note, as they can motivate different actions, which, as Bader highlights, could have implications on this week’s elections.