Public trust in U.S. health agencies have been declining since President Trump returned to office in January, according to the Annenberg University Center for Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
Only 64% express confidence in the CDC PollA year ago, 72% of the same answer was given under the Biden administration, down 72% of the year.
Another 63% expressed confidence in the Food and Drug Administration, down 10 points from 73% in September 2024. Confidence in the NIH dropped by 12 points from the same period, from 74% to 62%.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the center, said Sharp decline for Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents reduced overall confidence in the institution.
“While Democrats’ decline in confidence in the CDC, NIH and FDA is driven by the dissatisfaction of Democrats, who have greater trust in these institutions when the Democratic president controls the executive branch, it is important to note that they continue to have greater confidence than Republicans,” Ms. Jamison said in an email.
The research center asked 1,699 online panelists from August 5-18 for their confidence in the “providing the public with trustworthy information on public health matters”.
Annenberg said Democratic confidence in the CDC, FDA and NIH ranged between 65% and 70% in the survey, down from 87% in September 2024 to 94%.
The trust in institutions among self-identified Republican respondents is similar, ranging from 50% to 66% last year and from 56% to 61% this year.
Trust among self-identified independents has dropped from between 63% and 73% last year to between 59% and 62% this year.
This year’s survey also found that only 39% of adults surveyed were confident that Health and Public Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. provided them with trustworthy public health information.
Mr. Kennedy’s efforts to eliminate chronic childhood diabetes and obesity have received high scores from many doctors, but his well-known doubts about the effectiveness of the vaccine have alerted his critics.
Mr Kennedy removed all 17 members of the CDC’s Immunization Measures Advisory Committee in June, confusing those who trust their previous vaccine policies.
“It is necessary to clean up the sweep to rebuild public confidence in vaccine science,” Kennedy said at the time.
The Centre noted that Mr Kennedy called the CDC a “corrupt sludge” last year.
Some health professionals say that as long as Mr. Kennedy moves U.S. health agencies in an anti-vaccine direction, he will not be trusted.
“My personal trust in federal public health agencies is close to zero because they are all controlled by avid anti-vaccine fanatics: RFK Jr. “While he has power over these agencies, I don’t think it’s possible to rebuild trust.” ”
By contrast, Annenberg noted that 57% of those surveyed expressed confidence in Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, “Even after years of attacks by right-wing critics on the U.S. response to the U.S. League 19 pandemic, he expressed confidence in his attack on the U.S. response to the U.S. response to the U.S. alliance 19 pandemic.”
On the positive side, Annenberg found that 86% of adults have confidence in their “doctor, nurse, or other primary health care provider” to provide trustworthy information. This makes family doctors the most trusted source of health information and the surveys conducted since June 2023 have not changed statistically.
In a statement to the Washington Times on Friday, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services defended Mr. Kennedy’s efforts, since taking office in February, Mr. Kennedy has reformed federal agencies.
“Even if the HHS budget surges over the past four years, Americans are still facing record levels of disease,” HHS press secretary Emily G. Hilliard said in a statement. “Under Kennedy’s secretary, we are reducing waste, streamlining bureaucracy and demanding responsibility to bring real results to the American people and keep America healthy again.”
Mr. Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign successfully forced food companies to reduce addictive chemicals and eliminate artificial dyes.
He also convinced Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Arkansas, Idaho and Utah to remove sugary drinks from federal food stamp benefits.
The survey had an error rate of 3.5 points at a 95% confidence level.
