A recent survey revealed that 74.5 per cent of Americans are “afraid” or “very afraid” of corrupt Government officials.
And relative to last year, the list shows a change in anxieties since Trump took office.
The study’s authors said: “The 2017 list of fears clearly reflects political unrest and uncertainty in the wake of Donald Trump’s election as President.”
Corrupt Government officials has come in first place for two years in a row, but the percentage has risen from 60.6 per cent in 2016 to 74.5 per cent in 2017.
Other fears that have risen in the poll are concerns over World War 3 and North Korea using its nuclear weapons.
The fear of US involvement in another world war came seventh with 48.4 per cent and concerns that Kim Jong-un will use nuclear weapons came ninth with 47.5 per cent.
This is a reflection in part of the topics in the news when the survey was conducted during spring.
The uncertainty of Donald Trump’s presidency has had a significant effect on healthcare fears with the American Healthcare Act (“Trumpcare”) ranking second with 55.3 per cent in the poll.
Its rival Obamacare placed tenth place in 2016 with 35.5 per cent reporting being afraid or very afraid.
Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords also had a huge impact with 48 per cent afraid of global warming and 44.9 per cent scared of air pollution.
Pollution of oceans, rivers and lakes came in third with 53.1 per cent, pollution of drinking water came fourth with 50.4 per cent, global warming came in eighth and air pollution came in tenth.
The authors said: “Environmental issues never cracked the top ten fears in our previous surveys.”
Surprisingly, this year’s list was absent from fear of terrorism, the death of loved ones and Government restriction on guns.
The Chapman University Survey of American Fears polled 1,207 US adults on their levels of fears across 80 different categories.
The survey did not ask people to rate their fears against each other but simply asked whether they were afraid of each item on the list.