Americans are losing trust in President Joe Biden when it comes to information on COVID-19, a new poll found.
The Axios/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found that fewer than half of Americans now trust Biden to provide accurate information about COVID-19, a significant decline from when he first took office. Americans have also lost at least some trust in several other groups — including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health officials, the government and the media — to provide accurate information on the pandemic, which has left over 691,000 Americans dead as of Tuesday.
The poll of 1,105 adults was conducted Sept. 24-27 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
It comes as the country continues to grapple with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic as the highly contagious delta variant spreads — sparking outbreaks and increasing worries throughout the country.
Additionally, while the country has avoided widespread lockdowns like those seen in 2020, face mask mandates and other restrictions have returned in some areas of the country. Some people who got the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine are also now recommended to get booster shots, prompting confusion among some.
When Biden took office in January, 58% of Americans in an Axios/Ipsos poll said they trusted him to provide accurate COVID-19 information.
Now, that number has fallen 13 points to 45%, the poll found.
Seventeen percent of those surveyed said they have "a great deal" of trust in Biden while 28% said they have "a fair amount." Meanwhile, 18% said they have "not very much" trust and 35% said they have "none at all."
"He won on COVID, he surfed the first six months on COVID, but he's being challenged by it now because there's not a clear resolution in sight," Cliff Young, president of Ipsos U.S. public affairs, said of Biden, according to Axios.
Biden has "lost trust relatively evenly" along political party lines, Ipsos found.
Eighty-one percent of Democrats polled now say they trust Biden to provide accurate COVID-19 information, an 11-point drop from 92% around when he took office. Among Republicans, 11% of Republicans now say they trust him, down 10 points from 21% when he took office, according to the poll.
Young also pointed out to Axios that "delta and other issues" have changed how much Americans feel they can trust the president's assurances on combating the pandemic.
The White House recently unveiled a six-part coronavirus strategy that it said will "ensure that we are using every available tool to combat COVID-19 and save even more lives in the months ahead."
"Even as the delta variant 19 (sic) has — COVID-19 — has been hitting this country hard, we have the tools to combat the virus, if we can come together as a country and use those tools," Biden said in remarks Sept. 9. "If we raise our vaccination rate, protect ourselves and others with masking and expanded testing and identify people who are infected, we can and we will turn the tide on COVID-19."
He went on to say that the country has made progress and is in "much better shape" than when he took office — but acknowledged that "we're in a tough stretch, and it could last for a while."
The poll found Americans have the most trust in the CDC — with 64% who said the have a "great deal" or "fair amount" of trust in it to provide accurate COVID-19 information.
Still, that's a decline from 66% earlier this month and a high of 88% near the beginning of the pandemic.
The CDC this summer shifted its guidance on mask use for fully vaccinated people. In the spring, it said fully vaccinated people can resume their pre-pandemic activities without wearing a face mask or social distancing except where it is required by law. But in July, it recommended that fully vaccinated people in areas with high or substantial COVID-19 transmission wear a mask in public indoor settings.
More recently, the agency's recommendations on COVID-19 booster shots have prompted some confusion.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky recognized that confusion Sunday, telling "Face the Nation" that the agency will be continuing to look at data on who needs to get boosters.
Right now, the CDC has made available Pfizer booster shots, at least six months after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, for those who are:
—Ages 65 and older or a resident of a nursing home.
—Ages 50 to 64 with an underlying medical condition.
—Ages 18 to 49 with an underlying medical condition, based on their "individual benefit and risk."
—Ages 18 to 64 and at high risk because of their jobs, based on their "individual benefit and risk."
The poll found trust in the federal government also dropped slightly — to 49% from 54% earlier this month and 50% around the time when Biden took office. Axios notes, however, that trust "remains significantly higher" than during former President Donald Trump's time in office, with a low of 32% expressing trust in the federal government in late September 2020.
Other institutions and health officials have also recently seen at least some declines in trust since earlier this month:
—State governments: from 54% to 50%
—National public health officials: from 62% to 60%
—Cable news: from 39% to 34%
—National newspapers: from 46% to 41%
—Network TV news: from 47% to 45%
