Last week, CDC director Susan Monarez was fired by the Trump administration after less than a month on the job, and at least four other senior officials resigned from the agency. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has promised to restore public trust in the CDC, but our polling data suggests real challenges given how skeptical the public – and Republicans in particular – are about the agency.
KFF polls have shown a steady decline in the share of the public saying they trust the CDC to provide reliable information about vaccines and other topics, from a high of 85% at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to 57% in our latest poll in July. This drop was largely driven by Republicans, among whom the share trusting the CDC dropped from 90% in March 2020 to 40% in September 2023 before rebounding somewhat following President Trump’s 2024 election victory and Kennedy’s appointment as HHS Secretary. While trust among Democrats remained high throughout Joe Biden’s presidency, it began to decline in President Trump’s second term just as Republicans showed signs of increasing trust. As of July, Democrats remained more trusting of the CDC than Republicans, but it’s unclear how recent events might affect trust among partisans going forward.
While trust in the CDC as a source of information seems to be increasingly viewed through a partisan lens, there is another dimension that is less partisan but still points to challenges for rebuilding trust. Nearly six in ten adults (57%) in our latest poll say they have little or no confidence in government agencies like the CDC to make decisions based on science rather than personal views, and a similar share (63%) lack confidence in these agencies to act independently without interference from outside interests. Partisans are largely in agreement in their lack of confidence, with majorities of Democrats, independents, and Republicans expressing little to no confidence on either question.
Taken together, these polls suggest both opportunities and challenges facing those looking to restore trust in the CDC. With most of the public lacking confidence in health agencies to fulfill their core functions, changes that emphasize the agencies’ independence and science-based approach have the potential to increase trust across partisans. However, as recent trends show, actions or messages that improve trust among one group may run the risk of further eroding trust among others (partisanship is one example, but there may be other groups for whom this is true). The real challenge lies in ensuring the CDC can be trusted by people across partisanship and other dividing lines, ideally before another nationwide health crisis hits.