Americans are more likely than people in other countries surveyed in 2025 to question the morality of their fellow countrymen, according to Pew Research Center surveys in 25 countries.

We asked people around the world to rate the morality and ethics of others in their country.

In nearly all countries surveyed, more people say that others in their country have somewhat or very good morals than say their compatriots display somewhat or very bad levels of morality.

The United States is the only place we surveyed where more adults (ages 18 and older) describe the morality and ethics of others living in the country as bad (53%) than as good (47%).

Because we have never asked this question before, we don't know whether a majority of Americans have long held a skeptical view of the ethics of fellow Americans, or if it's something new - and if so, what's driving it. But partisan politics appear to play a role.

Yeah, I'd say so. And one of the parties is led by a man whose entire political career was built on grievance and hate for anyone who doesn't lick his boots, using crude insults and endless threats against them. He governs as the president of only his own followers and punishes those who aren't. So this makes perfect sense.

Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party are much more likely than Republicans and Republican leaners to rate fellow Americans as morally and ethically bad (60% vs. 46%).