Jeffrey M. Jones at Gallup:
Americans' job evaluations of eight prominent federal government agencies have fallen by double digits since 2019. The largest drop is for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with 40% now saying it is doing an excellent or good job, down from 64% in 2019. None of the 13 agencies measured in both 2019 and 2021 showed an increase in positive job ratings.
Gallup periodically asks Americans to assess how some of the more newsmaking federal agencies and departments are doing. Gallup first asked about NASA in 1990, and then expanded the list to a larger number of agencies in 2003.
Fifteen agencies are included in Gallup's annual Governance survey this year, conducted Sept. 1-17. The prior measures are from April 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic and when the U.S. economy was generally strong.
The CDC's ratings have suffered the most as the nation has struggled to deal with the pandemic among other challenging issues. The leading health agency has been criticized for changing its messages about the best ways for Americans to protect themselves from the coronavirus, particularly regarding the use of face masks.
