Americans' opinion of the CDC hits record low
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Americans' ratings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have fallen to a record low, according to a recent Gallup poll, driven by a plunge in Democrats' views of the agency.
Why it matters: The CDC has been at the center of heated political fights over the last six years, fueling sharp swings in public opinion along partisan lines.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has reshaped the CDC since taking office last year, overhauling its leadership and narrowing routine vaccine recommendations, including those for COVID-19, flu and hepatitis B.
By the numbers: Just 26% of Americans rated the CDC's performance as excellent or good, according to Gallup. A record-high 44% rated the CDC's performance as poor.
- Before the pandemic, in 2019, 64% of respondents rated the agency positively. That figure nosedived to 40% in 2021, as positive ratings among Republicans collapsed from 70% to 16%.
The parties' views of the CDC have moved in opposite directions since President Trump returned to the White House in 2025.
- 32% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents rated the CDC favorably, up from 19% in 2024.
- Positive ratings among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents fell 31 percentage points from 2024 to 2025, followed by another 14-point decline this year.
Stunning stat: In 2024, Democrats rated the CDC more positively than Republicans by 46 points. Today, Republicans rate it more positively by 12 points.
Zoom out: The FDA, which also falls under Kennedy's purview, likewise received its lowest positive rating on record: 25%, compared with 27% last year.
- The highest-rated agencies surveyed were the U.S. Postal Service (58% positive), NASA (53%) and the FAA (43%).
Methodology: The Gallup poll, conducted via telephone interviews, surveyed 1,000 American adults Sept. 1-17. The margin of error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
