From 77% To 50%: CDC Trust Has Never Dropped This Fast In Recent Polling

In One Year, the CDC Lost the Trust of Half the Country.

For decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was one of the most trusted institutions in American life. A new national poll suggests that era may be over. Trust in the CDC has dropped so far, so fast, that Americans now trust it at roughly the same rate they trust their local mayor, well below the level they trust their own pharmacist.

Just one year ago, 77% of American adults said they trusted health recommendations from the CDC. Today, that number has fallen to 50%, according to a poll conducted by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the de Beaumont Foundation’s Public Health Listening Lab. That’s a 27-percentage-point drop in a single year, a collapse in confidence the poll’s authors say reflects deep partisan division and serious concerns about the future of public health. The CDC has weathered credibility dips before, but nothing in recent years comes close to a drop this steep.

Where trust has held up is equally telling. Nurses, doctors, and pharmacists remain the most trusted sources for health guidance, with trust levels from 85 to 89 percent. Even friends and family, at 81%, rank higher. State and local health departments, though also losing ground, still command majority trust. The CDC now sits near the bottom of the trusted sources list, just above local elected officials like mayors.

A Nation Divided on the CDC

Among Democrats, trust in the CDC plummeted from 92% in spring 2025 to just 34% in 2026, a 58-point collapse. Among independents, it fell 30 points, from 77% to 47%. Republicans, by contrast, saw trust tick up slightly, from 63% to 67%. Beyond party lines, the erosion has been broad. Trust fell more than 30 percentage points among women (from 80% to 48%), Black adults (77% to 43%), Hispanic adults (81% to 50%), people living in cities (80% to 48%), and college graduates (80% to 46%).

Overall disapproval of federal health agency actions stands at 55%, with 86% of Democrats disapproving and 80% of Republicans approving. Top concerns include two-thirds who say health recommendations have been influenced too much by leaders’ personal beliefs, nearly as many who say leaders have focused on the wrong priorities, and about six in ten who say too many programs have been cut or scaled back.

Ask Americans whether federal health agencies are actually doing their job, and the answers are grim. Only 38% believe agencies have followed the best available scientific evidence. Even fewer, 37%, say agencies have had a positive impact on the health of average Americans, and just 29% believe they have reduced the influence of politics on their work.

Vaccines: Majority Support Holds, But Cracks Are Showing

On childhood vaccines, 77% of Americans say parents should be required to vaccinate their children to attend school, a figure that has held steady since 2021. That support crosses party lines, with 91% of Democrats and 65% of Republicans in agreement.

But the foundation beneath that consensus is softening. A substantial minority, 42% of the public, now supports reducing the number of vaccines on the recommended childhood schedule, with that figure jumping to 65% among Republicans. The share of Americans who say childhood vaccines are “very safe” has slipped from 63% in 2025 to 57% in 2026, trending back toward pre-pandemic levels of 54% in 2019 after reaching a high of 70% during the pandemic in 2022.

Among those who support scaling back the schedule, 63% say children were getting too many vaccines too early, 57% say it puts vaccine decisions back in parents’ hands, and 55% say some vaccines aren’t necessary for all children. Those who oppose the change are equally firm: 88% say more children will get sick with fewer required vaccines, 86% say vaccines are safe and protect children’s health, and 71% say the change was based on fringe science and personal views rather than research.

One Bright Spot: Americans Agree on Some Food Advice

Amid the divisions, the poll found genuine common ground in food guidelines. Sixty percent of Americans support recent changes to dietary guidelines overall, though a wide partisan gap remains, with 83% of Republicans in support compared to 37% of Democrats. Nine in ten Americans support advice to avoid or sharply limit added sugar and highly processed food, and more than eight in ten support recommendations to increase protein intake. About half of Americans, however, believe the guidelines have been too influenced by “big agriculture,” such as the beef or dairy industry.

The CDC’s Trust Collapse, and Who’s Left Standing

A nationally representative sample of 2,205 American adults took part in this poll, conducted March 19 through April 1, 2026, via internet and telephone in both English and Spanish. While trust in state and local health departments has also declined, the drops are far smaller than what hit the CDC, falling from 80% to 66% for state agencies and 82% to 70% for local agencies. State and local agencies are increasingly seen as the more trusted, accessible option as federal credibility erodes.

What this poll captures is not simply a statistical dip in one agency’s approval ratings. At the federal level, public health credibility has become deeply entangled in partisan identity, and when health recommendations become just another front in a culture war, the fallout extends well beyond any single number in a survey.

---

Disclaimer: This article is based on a national poll and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider regarding any health-related decisions.

---