As midterms approach, new poll finds that few Americans trust campaigns
or Trump
[September 10, 2026]
By AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX and LINLEY SANDERS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are more skeptical of government information
than they were a few years ago, with majorities now saying they have
little or no trust in federal government information about elections and
politics, foreign affairs or the environment, a new poll finds.
The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs
Research and USAFacts shows that while mistrust of government
information has grown since 2024, it's also higher than it was at the
end of President Donald Trump's first term, underscoring how his recent
attempts to dismantle parts of the federal bureaucracy may have affected
public confidence in the executive branch, particularly among Democrats.
Those suspicions extend to the results of the coming midterm elections.
Only 34% of U.S. adults trust government certifications of election
results “a great deal” or “quite a bit,” which is down slightly from 40%
in 2024. Certification is a typically routine process in which local and
state officials confirm the vote count, but it's become politicized
since Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.
Trust in government information has also become more partisan since
Trump's first term, the survey found.
“It's pretty hard to trust anything that's being communicated,” said
Shannon Ingram, 46, a Democrat who lives in Maryland, pointing to
shifting health recommendations as an example of “questionable”
government information she's seen since Trump regained office. “There is
a significant amount of bias, and it comes from the people who are
authoring the content.”
Lower trust in federal government information
About 6 in 10 U.S. adults have low trust in information from the federal
government about the environment, foreign affairs, elections and
politics, abortion or immigration — saying they trust it “only a little”
or “not at all.”
Mistrust in what the federal government says has risen at least slightly
on nearly every topic that was asked about in an AP-NORC/ USAFacts
survey from 2019. That includes education — which has risen from 37% in
2019 to 53% now — with a 9-percentage point spike in the last year.
The findings come after a year and a half of upheaval in the executive
branch. Trump began to dismantle key parts of the federal bureaucracy
soon after entering the White House for the second time, moving to end
longstanding programs and shutter entire agencies.
Since then, thousands of federal employees have been fired or left their
jobs, substantially reducing the ranks of the government statisticians
and leading experts to warn about risks to data quality.
Shifting regulations and recommendations have also led to dramatic
changes in government policy. Recent changes to longstanding health
advice have put doctors and medical organizations at odds with the Trump
administration on vaccination recommendations. Earlier this year, the
Environmental Protection Agency rescinded a scientific finding that has
underpinned government action to fight climate change for more than a
decade.
Jeremy Cove, a 44-year-old Republican from Missouri, trusts the Trump
administration's guidance on matters like vaccines, but he disagrees
with their assertion that climate change is not happening, or that
humans are not contributing to it.
“I love Trump; I voted for Trump, but some of the things he’s doing just
makes me distrust more,” Cove said. “Stuff like renaming Lake Ontario to
Lake America, it just makes you think about what their priorities are.
Then you realize it’s not what it should be, which in turn, makes you
distrust even more.”
Belief in government information has become more partisan
The gap between Republicans' and Democrats' trust in government
information is much wider than it was during Trump's first term, a shift
that first began to appear under former President Joe Biden.
Democrats were generally less likely to trust government information in
Trump's first term, but not dramatically more than Republicans. That
shifted when control of the White House changed hands. Republicans'
mistrust in government information rose while Biden was president and
fell after Trump took office. Meanwhile, Democrats' doubts declined
under Biden and spiked when Trump regained power.
[to top of second column]
|
President Donald Trump holds up an image taken from his Truth
Social account as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. watches during a meeting to sign an executive order
about vaccines, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026, in the Oval Office of the
White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
For example, 61% of Democrats now have low trust in information
about the federal budget, compared with 42% of Republicans, while
60% of Democrats have low trust in information about crime, compared
with only 32% of Republicans.
Larry Haith, a 76-year-old Republican from Idaho, says he tends to
trust the federal government — though, he acknowledges that it can
vary based on the current administration.
“Generally speaking, I’ve got more confidence in the federal
government today than I’ve had in years,” he said.
Independents, meanwhile, became more mistrustful of government
information under Biden and haven't shifted under Trump.
The only issue without a substantial partisan divide in the new
survey is vaccination recommendations and safety: about 6 in 10
Democrats, Republicans and independents trust the federal government
on vaccination recommendations and safety “only a little” or “not at
all.”
Few trust political messages, even from their own party
As the 2026 midterms approach, public concern about the accuracy of
the election results is widespread. Just under half of U.S. adults
are “extremely” or “very” concerned the federal government will
publicly discredit or question election results, tamper with
election results, or pressure state election officials to change how
they certify or report results.
Over the past few months, Trump has repeated long-debunked
allegations of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election, attempted to
place new restrictions on mail voting in time for the midterms and
pushed Congress to enact a proof-of-citizenship requirement to
register and vote. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has
also warned state officials that they could lose funding or face
investigations if they fail to go along with Trump's election
security demands.
At the same time, few Americans trust the information they get from
political campaigns. Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults say the
Democratic Party or Republican Party campaign messages are “always”
or “often” based in factual information.
In a sign of how deep the mistrust runs, only about one-quarter of
Democrats trust their party's campaign messages to be factual at
least “often,” while a similar share of Republicans say this about
their party.
Less than half of Democrats, 44%, trust government certifications of
election results “a great deal” or “quite a bit,” a substantial
decline from 65% in 2024.
Even with Trump back in the White House, though, Republicans haven't
seen a similar increase in confidence. Only 29% of Republicans have
high trust in government certifications of election results, up just
slightly from 2024.
Trust in other sources of information about election outcomes — such
as national news outlets or cable news networks — is also low
overall.
Kim Murza, a Democrat from Colorado, has faith in the country's
ability to run fair elections but blames the Trump administration
for eroding Americans' trust in the process.
“My concern is more about what the current administration is doing,”
said 45-year-old Murza. “I think they are doing whatever they can to
try to put that distrust in people’s minds.”
___
The AP-NORC/ USAFacts poll of 1,036 adults was conducted July 29 to
Aug. 10 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based
AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S.
population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus
or minus 4.1 percentage points. The margin of sampling error is plus
or minus 6.4 for Republicans overall and plus or minus 6.0 for
Democrats overall.
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