![\"KFF](\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/02\/260126_Health-Information-and-Trust-Polling-Page_FI.png\")
<\/figure>\nTrusted Sources of Health Information<\/h2>\n
When Americans look for credible health information, individual doctors and healthcare providers are consistently cited as the most trusted source. A large majority of adults express at least a fair amount of trust in their personal physician for reliable health guidance. Conversely, trust in government health agencies and political officials is markedly more divided. Only about half of the public report trusting agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Meanwhile, fewer than half express confidence in state government officials, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., or President Trump.<\/p>\n
Partisanship heavily influences these perceptions, particularly regarding Secretary Kennedy and President Trump. Roughly six in ten Republicans\u2014a figure that rises to at least seven in ten among MAGA-supporting Republicans\u2014state that they trust Secretary Kennedy or President Trump for reliable health information. In contrast, three in ten or fewer independents and Democrats share that level of trust. <\/p>\n Party lines also dictate views on state-level officials, with Democrats being more likely than Republicans to trust their state government leaders for health guidance. However, partisanship largely fades away when evaluating individual practitioners; healthcare providers remain the single most trusted source of health information regardless of political affiliation.<\/p>\n Demographic factors also reveal interesting patterns in health information consumption. White adults and those with a college degree are more likely to express trust in their doctor, a trend that may reflect underlying disparities in healthcare access. Educational attainment similarly correlates with trust in the CDC and state government officials, with college-educated adults showing higher levels of confidence. Furthermore, White adults are more likely than their demographic peers to express trust in Secretary Kennedy and President Trump regarding health matters.<\/p>\n Beneath the surface of general agency awareness lies a broader skepticism. Most of the public lacks confidence that federal agencies like the CDC or the FDA can effectively execute many of their core responsibilities. While Democrats are somewhat more likely than Republicans to hold at least some confidence in these government bodies to ensure vaccine safety, gauge vaccine effectiveness, and guide childhood vaccination schedules, fewer than half of respondents across all major political affiliations express confidence that these agencies make decisions based strictly on science.<\/p>\n This erosion of trust extends to institutional independence. Less than half of the public and partisan subsets express confidence that the CDC, the FDA, or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can operate independently without interference from outside interests. While Democrats show slightly higher confidence in the CDC’s ability to remain independent\u2014with nearly half expressing trust\u2014only about four in ten or fewer adults believe the FDA or EPA operate free from external political or corporate pressure.<\/p>\n This current skepticism marks a stark shift from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw high levels of bipartisan trust in CDC information regarding the novel virus. Over subsequent years, trust in the agency’s guidance on COVID-19 and routine vaccines declined sharply amid widening partisan divides, marked initially by significant drops in Republican trust. More recently, Democratic trust in the agency has also experienced notable declines following political shifts in Washington, including the reelection of President Trump and the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS Secretary. Parallel declines have been observed in public trust regarding vaccine information from the FDA, state government officials, and local public health departments.<\/p>\n When examining parents of children under 18, pediatricians emerge as the premier source for reliable vaccine information. Majorities also look to local public health departments, the CDC, and the FDA, while over half of parents rely on friends and family. Far fewer parents express trust in Secretary Kennedy, pharmaceutical companies, or online health and wellness influencers. Even among parents, political alignment shapes trust; Secretary Kennedy garners vaccine trust from majorities of MAGA-movement supporters and Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement supporters, though even within these groups, larger shares place their trust in their child’s pediatrician.<\/p>\n As traditional institutional trust wavers, significant portions of the American public are turning to digital channels for medical advice. Approximately three in ten adults report using social media to find health information and advice at least monthly. This usage is notably higher among younger adults, Black and Hispanic adults, lower-income individuals, and those with lower educational attainment.<\/p>\n Among those who utilize social media for health advice, about one-third cite a desire to learn from peers with similar health experiences or a need for immediate support. Approximately one in six users point to difficulties in accessing or affording traditional healthcare as a major driver for turning to online platforms. Similar socioeconomic factors drive individuals toward emerging technologies. About a third of the public reports turning to AI chatbots for health information and advice over the past year, matching social media as a resource, though still trailing behind traditional healthcare providers and internet search engines.<\/p>\n Younger adults are the primary adopters of AI tools for both physical and mental health inquiries. For mental health advice specifically, uninsured adults, Black adults, and Hispanic adults are more likely than insured individuals and White adults to leverage AI chatbots. Most users employ these tools to research symptoms or general medical conditions rather than making definitive clinical decisions. Quick support and privacy are leading motivations, though roughly one in five users explicitly cite healthcare access and affordability barriers. While the general public maintains low trust in AI for health reliability, those who actively use AI chatbots for health guidance tend to express confidence in their accuracy.<\/p>\n The widespread exposure to health misinformation presents a persistent challenge for public health communication. While exposure to false claims is common, relatively few adults express absolute certainty that these unproven claims are true. Instead, a substantial portion of the population\u2014often at least half\u2014falls into what researchers describe as a "malleable middle," viewing these claims as either probably true or probably false.<\/p>\n This uncertainty surrounds a variety of high-profile claims related to COVID-19, vaccines, measles, and alleged links between common over-the-counter medications like Tylenol and autism. Exposure levels fluctuate depending on the topic and the prominence of media coverage, with the Tylenol-autism claim receiving particularly high visibility following prominent political press conferences.<\/p>\n Partisanship, educational background, and media consumption habits heavily influence susceptibility to health misinformation. Republicans and adults without a college degree are consistently more likely to believe or lean toward believing vaccine-related myths than Democrats and college-educated adults. Age, race, and ethnicity also introduce variations; adults aged 30 to 49 and Black adults are more likely to endorse certain false vaccine claims compared to their respective peers. Furthermore, individuals who frequently rely on social media or AI for health information, as well as those lacking a trusted primary care provider, exhibit higher susceptibility to false medical claims.<\/p>\n Despite heightened skepticism and the spread of misinformation, the majority of U.S. adults maintain confidence in the safety of routine childhood vaccines, including the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, polio, and hepatitis B shots, alongside adult vaccines for pneumonia and shingles. However, views regarding COVID-19 and annual flu vaccines remain heavily polarized along political lines, with Democrats expressing significantly higher confidence than Republicans.<\/p>\n Among parents, strong majorities express confidence in the safety of standard childhood inoculations, though skepticism remains pronounced regarding newer or more politically charged vaccines. While about two-thirds of parents consider flu shots safe for children, fewer than half say the same about COVID-19 vaccines. Demographic variations also appear among parents; supporters of the MAHA movement, Black parents, and parents under age 35 are less likely to report confidence in routine childhood vaccine safety.<\/p>\n While most parents keep their children up to date on recommended immunizations, roughly one in six report having skipped or delayed at least one childhood vaccine. Skepticism toward vaccine safety testing and the volume of CDC-recommended shots is more prevalent among younger parents and Republican identifiers. Crucially, parents who skip or delay vaccines are about twice as likely to harbor beliefs in false health claims regarding measles and COVID-19, highlighting the direct link between health misinformation and parental decision-making.<\/p>\n At the same time, newer medical technologies like messenger-RNA (mRNA)\u2014which underpins certain COVID-19 vaccines and emerging therapeutics\u2014remain largely unfamiliar to the broader public. While few adults actively view mRNA technology as unsafe, about half report that they simply do not know enough about the science to form an opinion, pointing to an ongoing need for transparent, accessible public health communication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Doctors and other frontline healthcare professionals remain the undisputed bedrock of public trust when it comes to reliable health information, standing in stark contrast to government agencies and political figures who face deepening partisan and demographic divisions. According to comprehensive polling data from KFF tracking health information, public trust, and misinformation, individuals overwhelmingly turn to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461],"tags":[136,706,2842,1441,2991,2993,229,244,464,462,1572,162,463,1634,2992,2902,203,603,212],"class_list":["post-2382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthcare-and-medical-costs","tag-agencies","tag-amid","tag-confidence","tag-deep","tag-dips","tag-divides","tag-federal","tag-health","tag-health-policy","tag-healthcare","tag-high","tag-insurance","tag-medical-costs","tag-officials","tag-partisan","tag-providers","tag-public","tag-remains","tag-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"KFF](\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/dOOxJ\/full.png\")
<\/figure>\n![\"KFF](\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/BwvIj\/full.png\")
<\/figure>\nConfidence in Federal Health Agencies<\/h2>\n
![\"KFF](\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/iPlET\/full.png\")
<\/figure>\n![\"KFF](\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/NxIrr\/full.png\")
<\/figure>\nSocial Media and Artificial Intelligence in Health<\/h2>\n
![\"KFF](\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/tLugf\/full.png\")
<\/figure>\nFalse or Unproven Health Claims<\/h2>\n
![\"KFF](\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/X5ulA\/full.png\")
<\/figure>\n![\"KFF](\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/MP1fz\/full.png\")
<\/figure>\nVaccine Attitudes and Safety Perceptions<\/h2>\n
![\"KFF](\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/pwJC1\/full.png\")
<\/figure>\n