RFK Jr. vowed to restore public trust in health. It's not working, a new survey suggests.

RFK Jr. vowed to restore public trust in health. It's not working, a new survey suggests. Less than 40% of surveyed adults view Health Secretary Kennedy as trustworthy, compared with 86% who have confidence in their own doctors. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has defended some of his more controversial decisions by arguing that they are necessary to restore trust in public health. Jay Janner / Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images file Share Add NBC News to Google March 5, 2026, 5:45 PM EST By Erika Edwards Listen to this article with a free account 00:00 00:00 Americans are losing confidence in the nation’s public health agencies, according to a survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania . The survey of 1,650 adults, conducted last month, found that on matters of health, a majority of Americans say they have far more confidence in their own doctors, pediatricians and career scientists at federal agencies than the political appointees charged with overseeing those scientists. It comes as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has defended some of his more controversial decisions by arguing that they are necessary to restore trust in public health. After he fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez after just a month on the job, he wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial that the agency had “squandered public trust” and that it was his mission to restore it. And when he fired all of the members of an influential vaccine advisory committee last summer , he said that the Department of Health and Human Services was “prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda.” However, trust in public health agencies has fallen in Trump’s second term, according to the survey. Confidence in the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health hovered around 75% during the Biden administration. Since Trump’s second term began, trust ...