Americans trust Fauci over RFK Jr. and career scientists over Trump officials

"In a nationally representative survey conducted in February by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, 54 percent of respondents said they had confidence in Fauci, while only 38 percent had confidence in Kennedy. Breaking those supporters down further, 25 percent of respondents said they were "very confident" in Fauci, while only 9 percent said the same for Kennedy."

"Among federal agencies, 67 percent said they had confidence in career scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health. But only 43 percent said they had confidence in the leaders of those agencies."

""The public is differentiating the trustworthiness of career scientists in the CDC, NIH, and FDA from that of the leaders of those agencies and recalling substantially higher confidence in the guidance that former director Fauci provided than that offered by Secretary Kennedy or Dr. Oz," Ken Winneg, APPC's managing director of survey research, said in a statement."

A February survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center reveals substantial public confidence gaps between career scientists and Trump administration health officials. Fifty-four percent of respondents expressed confidence in former NIAID director Anthony Fauci compared to only 38 percent for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who lacks medical, scientific, or public health credentials. The survey demonstrates Americans distinguish between career scientists at major health agencies—67 percent trust CDC, FDA, and NIH scientists—and their political leadership, where only 43 percent express confidence. This disparity reflects public preference for Fauci's guidance over that provided by Kennedy or Dr. Oz.

Read at Ars Technica