When it comes to public trust in the top public health officials and apparatuses in America, a survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania finds strong trust and confidence.
Published online on July 20th, 2021, the findings revealed high public confidence in the FDA, CDC, and the NIH’s top officials as many nations recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey included 1,719 adult participants based in the U.S. and occurred throughout June of 2021.
According to the survey’s results, as many as 83 percent of respondents expressed confidence in their primary health care provider in providing accurate information pertaining to the coronavirus pandemic.
As it pertains to the FDA, 77 percent of respondents felt confident that the health agency provided accurate information on preventing and treating COVID-19. 76 percent said the same about the CDC, and 68 percent about the NIH’s Anthony Fauci.
Viewers of conservative media outlets were more likely to express less confidence in the leading public health apparatuses and officials, becoming more preoccupied with conspiratorial beliefs, the survey also determined.
“For more than a year, some prominent hosts in the conservative media have attacked Fauci’s credibility. Fox News’s Laura Ingraham falsely claimed on June 2, 2021, much of what Fauci said about this virus, the drugs that could treat it, and the measures that could be taken to slow the spread was untrue,” the report of the findings state.
“The survey found that those who indicated that they rely on conservative and very conservative media have less confidence in U.S. health authorities providing trustworthy information about Covid-19 – especially Fauci.”
