April 27 (UPI) -- Two recent reports paint a troubling picture of where democratic societies stand. The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, based on surveys of roughly 32,000 people across 28 countries, found that six in 10 respondents held a moderate to high sense of grievance toward those in power. Transparency International's 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index, released in February, found the global average at its lowest point in more than a decade, with more than two-thirds of 182 countries and territories scoring below 50.