The 2026 State of Government Affairs Report

Introduction

Within the government affairs landscape, expanding policy agendas, heightened scrutiny, rapid technological change, and sustained political complexity are reshaping how teams monitor issues, demonstrate value, and get work done. How are government affairs professionals navigating this environment?

The 2026 edition of the State of Government Affairs report explores this question through a survey of 181 professionals working across government relations, public policy and regulatory affairs, representing a broad range of industries, organizational sizes, and role types.

Respondents shared candid perspectives on what is working well, where strain is most acute, and how their work is evolving. The data reveals how teams are adapting to growing complexity while remaining deeply motivated by purpose and impact.

This report examines the day-to-day realities of government affairs work today — including tools, time allocation, and professional sentiment — and surfaces key trends to watch as teams look ahead to 2026. Together, these insights offer a grounded view of the profession’s current state and where it may be headed next.

Policy and issue monitoring sits at the center of government affairs work. 

While the largest group of respondents (29%) report tracking 20+ issues, similar shares track between 3–6, 6–10, and 10–20 issues. This distribution suggests that policy volume varies widely by organization.

However, only 6% of respondents report tracking just a few issues. The data suggests that most teams operate under sustained policy pressure.

Positive Signals

When viewed year-over-year, the distribution of time spent on issue monitoring has shifted. 

The largest share of respondents (43.5%) report spending just 0–5 hours per week finding and monitoring legislation, with fewer respondents fall into the highest time-intensive buckets.

This shift coincides with a significant increase in the adoption of legislative and regulatory tracking tools. 

Expanded tool usage may be helping teams manage monitoring more efficiently.

Adoption of legislative and regulatory tracking tools rose to 73%, up significantly from last year. 

These tools are helping reduce the time required for monitoring, allowing teams to spend fewer total hours tracking legislation.

While fear of missing a critical policy update ranks as the top concern, 66% of respondents say they miss only the occasional bill or regulatory change, suggesting that core visibility is holding steady.

Difficulty demonstrating impact emerged as a new top concern. 

Forty-five percent of respondents say they struggle to show the value of their team’s work, up from 32% last year.

This rise underscores how higher stakes are reshaping roles in the industry. As policy work becomes more complex and visible, the ability to clearly articulate value is becoming just as critical — and just as stressful — as tracking the issues themselves.

What to Watch in 2026

As policy workloads expand, respondents increasingly point to predictive analytics as the technology most likely to impact their organizations. 

These tools promise not just broader visibility, but clearer prioritization — helping teams determine which of the many issues they track deserve attention right now.

The data also signals a geographic shift in issue monitoring.

Sixty-three percent of respondents say their work is focused primarily at the state level, up from 24% last year. 

This increased focus is reflected not just in where teams are spending time today, but in how they view the future: 45% now expect state government to shape their industry’s landscape over the next five years, compared with just 16% last year. 

Together, these findings point to a significant reorientation of attention and resources toward state-level policymaking.

Altogether, the findings suggest issue monitoring has shifted from coverage to prioritization. As policy volume normalizes at high levels, the next phase of effectiveness will depend on prioritization, clarity, and the ability to connect monitoring activity to measurable impact.

In this section, respondents were invited to reflect in their own words to the following questions:

• What is one word or phrase you would use to describe the current state of government affairs?
• In one sentence, what keeps you motivated in this profession despite challenges?
• What question would you want to ask your government affairs colleagues?

We took responses and categorized them by sentiment to find which experiences were widely felt.

Positive Signals

Even amid ongoing challenges, motivation remains a defining strength. 

Fifty-six percent of respondents referenced impact, values, or contributing to the public good as what keeps them motivated. Purpose-driven motivations significantly outweigh burnout-related sentiment, reinforcing that commitment to the work itself remains strong.

Rather than signaling disengagement, these responses point to a profession anchored in mission — even when conditions are demanding.

Points of Friction

At the same time, respondents are candid about the environment they are operating in. Thirty-nine percent describe the current state of government affairs using language that signals breakdown or dysfunction, making it the most prevalent theme by a wide margin.

What to Watch in 2026

Professionals remain motivated by purpose, yet increasingly characterize the systems around them as fragmented or unstable. The tension between intrinsic commitment and perceived dysfunction emerges as one of the defining dynamics of 2026. These open-ended reflections reveal a profession that remains deeply motivated by purpose, even as confidence in the systems surrounding the work erodes.

Positive Signals

Respondents report significant growth in the use of AI for core policy and content tasks — signaling that AI has moved beyond experimentation and into everyday workflows.

The most notable gains are in areas that save time on complex cognitive work. Use of AI for bill analysis and summary rose from 30% to 54% year-over-year, firmly establishing it as a mainstream policy tool. 

Brainstorming support saw the largest increase, jumping from 29% to 57% year-over-year, suggesting growing comfort with AI as an upstream thinking partner rather than a last-step editor. 

Importantly, AI is also being applied more directly to policy substance. Use of AI to understand the impact of new legislation increased from 18% to 33% year-over-year, signaling a shift toward analytical applications, not just surface-level summaries.

Together, these patterns show AI evolving from a production assistant into an analytical co-pilot — supporting both efficiency and deeper understanding.

Points of Friction

At the same time, organizational openness to AI adoption has become more cautious. 

Last year, 57% of respondents said their organizations were very open and actively seeking or using AI tools. This year, that share dropped to 41%. 

Meanwhile, the proportion of respondents who say their organizations are open but cautious about implementation rose sharply, from 25% to 46%.

This shift does not signal retreat, but a more measured phase of adoption. As AI becomes embedded in daily workflows, expectations around accuracy, governance, and human judgment are rising.

What to Watch in 2026

In 2026, the limiting factor for AI adoption is no longer awareness or access — it is trust. While AI is increasingly embedded in daily workflows, respondents remain cautious about relying on it for nuanced policy interpretation, citing concerns around specificity, accuracy, and the erosion of critical thinking.

As a result, the next phase of adoption is likely to favor specialized, domain-specific AI tools designed explicitly for government affairs. Tools that can demonstrate policy awareness, transparency, and alignment with how professionals actually read and analyze legislation will be best positioned to gain trust.

The insights in this report are grounded in responses from 181 professionals working across government affairs and related functions. While not intended to represent the entire profession, this participant snapshot provides helpful context on the roles, experience levels, and focus areas shaping the perspectives shared throughout the report.

About PolicyNote

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