President-elect Trump and those in his circle may have some ground to make up compared to former White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci when it comes to earning trust related to medical information, according to a new survey.
The latest poll from Axios/Ipsos American Health Index shows that 45 percent of Americans say they either have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust in information regarding health topics coming from Fauci. Another 32 percent said the same about Trump, 30 percent had a similar view of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services — and 25 percent said the same of billionaire Elon Musk.
The president-elect, Kennedy and Musk — who will co-lead the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the incoming Trump administration with biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — have all previously expressed skepticism towards vaccination efficacy or safety. Kennedy, who has been a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has said in recent interviews that he does not wish to get rid of any approved vaccines, but suggested that health agencies need to do more research on them.
Trump and other Republicans have criticized Fauci, who was the face of the first Trump and Biden administration’s response against COVID-19, over his handling of the pandemic.
When asked in the survey if they agree that the U.S. “is adequately prepared to deal with another pandemic or widespread health crisis,” 34 percent of respondents said they “strongly” or “somewhat” agree. Another 65 percent said they “somewhat” or “strongly” disagree.
More than half, 54 percent, also said the U.S. government should be responsible for ensuring everyone has access to health care. About 27 percent said Americans were responsible for finding their own coverage, while 19 percent were unsure or skipped the question.
A majority of survey takers, 77 percent, said the government should ensure medicine and health care treatments available for sale in the U.S. are safe and effective. Just 13 percent said people are responsible for their own research. About 10 percent said they were unsure or skipped the question.
The Axios/Ipsos survey took place between Dec. 6-9, featuring 1,002 people and has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.