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The McCourtney Institute for Democracy

The McCourtney Institutefor Democracy

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Trust in the FBI higher among Democrats

Trust in the FBI higher among Democrats

Americans also significantly differ in their views of the FBI by generation

Graph showing that more than half of Democrats have at least some trust in the FBI, compared to about 30% of Republicans.
Source: APM Research Lab analysis of McCourtney Institute’s Mood of the Nation Poll, Nov. 14-18, 2022. N = 1,000 U.S. adults age 18 or older; the overall margin of error is ±3.6 percentage points, larger for sub-groups.

Half of Americans trust the FBI either most of the time (10%) or “just about always” (40%). This is significantly higher than Americans’ trust in the federal government more generally; about one-quarter of Americans trust “the government in Washington” to do what is right either “just about always” or “most of the time.”

Trust in the FBI is significantly higher among Democrats than either Republicans or political independents.

  • Only 4% of Republicans indicate that that they “just about always” trust the FBI to do what is right, compared with 17% of Democrats.

  • Only 7% of Democrats indicate that they “hardly ever” trust the FBI to do what is right, compared with 30% of independents and 32% of Republicans.

Read the full report from APM Research Lab.