(NewsNation) — Public confidence in U.S. health agencies has dropped over the past 18 months, according to a new survey that also indicates some skepticism about President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his nominee for Health and Human Services secretary.
Fifty-three percent of the public said they trust the Food and Drug Administration to make accurate recommendations about health matters at least “a fair amount” of the time, the Kaiser Family Foundation poll said. That’s down from 65% in June 2023 as the pandemic was ending, the organization said.
Similarly, the share of people who said they trust their state and local public health officials fell from 64% in 2023 to 54% now, the survey said. Trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dropped from 66% to 61% over the same time frame.
The catch: The survey compilers found that people’s trust in health institutions tended to fall along party lines, with Democrats showing greater support for them, Republicans showing less and independents in the middle.
Partisanship also factors into responses about President Trump, whose first term coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, and Kennedy, who has faced criticisms for his stances on vaccines and other health issues.
The overall public trust in Trump and Kennedy to make the right recommendations on health issues was a little over 40%. The level of trust for both of them, however, was more than 80% among Republicans, the survey said.
Kennedy faces his first confirmation hearings in the Senate beginning Wednesday.