Over half of America trusts the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for medical advice. The latest Economist/YouGov data on America's faith in the CDC comes as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States continues to rise, surpassing 4 million as of July 23.
A quarter (27%) of Americans say they trust the CDC a lot, compared to 35 percent of Americans who say they somewhat trust the CDC for medical advice. 13 percent of Americans say they neither trust nor distrust the CDC, followed by 10 percent who say they somewhat distrust the organization, and 10 percent who distrust the CDC a lot.
Democrats (41%) are more likely than Independents (21%) and Republicans (17%) to say they trust the CDC a lot. Two in five (40%) Democrats say they somewhat trust the CDC, compared to 31 percent of Independents and 34 percent of Republicans. The highest distrust rate can be seen in Republicans, with 16 percent reporting that they distrust the CDC a lot, compared to 12 percent of Independents and 2 percent of Democrats.
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden are more likely than supporters of President Trump to say they trust the CDC a lot. Half (50%) of those who choose Biden in the trial heat against Trump say they trust the CDC a lot, compared to 13 percent of those who say they will vote for Trump in 2020. About one in five (18%) Trump supporters say they distrust the CDC a lot, compared to 2 percent of Biden supporters.
Two-thirds of (66%) Americans in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll state they have heard about the Trump administration ordering hospitals to send COVID-19 data directly to the Administration, rather than to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
When asked whether they approved or disapproved of this decision, two in five (41%) Americans say they strongly disapprove of the decision to send COVID-19 data directly to the White House rather than the CDC. 14 percent of Americans somewhat disapprove, 15 percent somewhat approve, and 14 percent of Americans strongly approve of the decision. Democrats (71%) are more likely than Independents (35%) and Republicans (12%) to strongly disapprove of this decision.
See the toplines and crosstabs from this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: This Economist survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,500 US adult citizens interviewed online between July 19 - 21, 2020. The approximate margin of error is 3.2 percentage points for the overall sample. Samples are weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the US Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 Presidential vote, registration status, geographic region, and news interest. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all US citizens.
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