Gallup polling finds public perception of the CDC, FDA has hit record lows
A new poll from Gallup meant to measure public opinion found that Americans have a record-setting negative view of major federal healthcare agencies, specifically the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Of the 12 federal agencies selected for the survey, the CDC and FDA received the lowest scores, with only 26% and 25% of Americans rating the performance of the agencies as “excellent or good,” respectively.
The two also received the highest number of negative ratings, with 44% of Americans feeling the performance of the CDC is “poor,” followed by 48% for the FDA.
Gallup said the ratings represent record-setting “new lows” for the agencies, with public perception generally falling over the last few years, albeit with some nuance. Data from the survey extends back as far as 2003.
Back then, the CDC had received peak high excellent/good marks, with 66% of respondents viewing the agency positively. That high was seen again in 2017, but the CDC’s rating has since dropped 40 percentage points. In the last year alone, since President Donald Trump began his second term, high ratings for the agency have dropped about 5 points.
The FDA doesn’t fare much better. While in 2017 46% of Americans rated its performance as excellent/good, that high has never been seen again, falling 21 percentage points to date. Since 2025, it’s fallen another 2 percentage points.
“The FDA and CDC are the only two agencies that have higher poor ratings than excellent/good ratings. These agencies have been in the news recently—the CDC, in connection with measles outbreaks in the U.S. amid its attempts to change long-standing vaccine guidance, and the FDA, in its coverage of a major cyclospora outbreak linked to lettuce that sickened people in many states,” Gallup wrote.
The analytics firm noted that other recent polling it conducted showed declining confidence in the federal government’s ability to ensure food safety. It also added that, historically, the FDA has always been less popular with the public than the CDC.
Split along party lines
Zooming in on political leanings, Republican and Democratic respondents’ views of the CDC and FDA differ, especially following the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2025.
That year, among Democrats, high ratings for the CDC dropped 31 points compared to 2024, with ratings now down another 14 points since 2024. Prior to 2025, Democrats’ job rating of the CDC had been much more positive, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gallup added.
In contrast, Republicans’ view of the CDC “plummeted during the pandemic” from 70% positive in 2019, during Trump’s first term, to a low of 16% in 2021. Now, it's rebounded some, with 32% of GOP respondents rating the performance of the agency as excellent or good.
“Republicans also evaluate the FDA more positively than Democrats do, 36% to 18%. Republicans’ ratings have improved from 23% in 2024, while Democrats’ have fallen from 47%,” Gallup wrote.
Their data also shows that the fierce party-line divide began to manifest sometime after 2017.
“Between 2009 and 2017, Democrats and Republicans rated the FDA about equally, but since 2019, the party subgroup aligned with the incumbent president has always rated it significantly more favorably,” Gallup added.
Survey data was taken from a poll sent out in September to 1,000 U.S. adults, meant to represent a random sample of the public.
Of the 12 agencies featured in the polling, the Postal Service and NASA received the highest percentages of excellent/good ratings at 58% and 53%, respectively.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.