Poll: Voters Lose Trust in Public Health Officials, Media Over Handling of Pandemic

A majority of likely U.S. voters say they have less trust in public health officials and the news media because of the way they handled the coronavirus pandemic, a new Rasmussen Reports poll found.

Out of 967 likely U.S. voters polled between March 19-21, 50 percent say the way the government handled the coronavirus pandemic caused them to have less trust in public health officials. Similarly, 53 percent say they have less trust in the news media because of its pandemic coverage.

“Thirty percent (30 percent) say the government’s pandemic response caused them to have more trust in public health officials, while 18 percent say it did not have much impact,” Rasmussen Reports said of the survey, which has a margin of sampling error is ± 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence. “… Just 23 percent say the pandemic coverage made them trust the media more, while 22 percent say the coverage did not have much impact on their trust in the news media.”

Respondents were also asked if they agree or disagree with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s recent statement that the experts in charge of the government’s pandemic policy “were wrong about almost everything.” Nearly six in ten voters (59 percent) agree with that statement, including 36 percent who “strongly agree.” A little more than a third (34 percent) say they disagree with the DeSantis quote, including 20 percent who “strongly disagree.”

Unsurprisingly, only 27 percent of Democrats say the government’s handling of the pandemic has damaged their opinion of public health officials. Sixty-nine percent of President Joe Biden’s strongest supporters say they have more faith in public health officials because of how they handled the pandemic. Forty-percent of Democrats also say they now have more trust in the media.

Conversely, 67 percent of Republicans and 58 percent of unaffiliated voters have less trust in public health officials, and 68 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of unaffiliated voters have less trust in the news media.

“[A]mong those who Strongly Disapprove of Biden’s performance, 88 percent say the way the government handled the COVID-19 pandemic caused them to have less trust in public health officials,” according to the survey report.

Likewise, 78 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of unaffiliated voters at least somewhat agree that public health officials “were wrong about almost everything.” That opinion is shared by 45 percent of Democrats.