Poll: Americans can’t define the “deep state,” but they’re pretty sure it’s real

Is the government secretly being controlled by an unelected group of officials — a so-called “deep state”? The majority of the country seems to think so, according to a Monmouth University poll released Monday.

Once thought of as the domain of conspiracy theorists (and, later, the president of the United States), the perception of unelected officials having undue influence has gone mainstream. Seventy-four percent of poll respondents said the deep state, “a group of unelected government and military officials who secretly manipulate or direct national policy,” “definitely” or “probably” exists.

Only 37 percent of Americans said they were at least “somewhat familiar” with the term “deep state.” However, given the description, 27 percent said the deep state definitely exists and 47 percent said it probably exists.

Before bringing up the question of the “deep state,” Monmouth University asked respondents whether unelected officials in Washington as a whole had too much power. Sixty percent — including near-equal shares of Democrats and Republicans — said that unelected or appointed government officials have too much influence in determining federal policy.

That question asked about “unelected or appointed officials” — a term that could apply to well-known officials such as Cabinet members. (And Trump’s Cabinet has had a rough few weeks of firings, scandals, and bad interviews.) But the Trump administration means something a bit more specific by “deep state.” They’re referring to career federal government officials, particularly in intelligence and national security agencies, who are actively working to undermine the administration’s policy priorities.

So while belief in the “deep state” spans both parties — with more than 70 percent of each partisan group expressing belief — it’s not clear if respondents were buying into a conspiracy theory or just expressing a more general frustration with Washington.