A nationally representative survey of U.S. adults found that confidence in career scientists at federal health agencies and in major professional health and science associations is higher than confidence in the leaders of federal health agencies.

The findings:

• Agencies: Public trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) dropped significantly from 2024 (74%-76%) to 2025 (67%) and again in 2026 (60-62%).
• Agency leaders: About 4 in 10 are confident Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kennedy and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Oz are providing trustworthy information on public health.
• Career scientists: Two-thirds of Americans have confidence in career scientists working at U.S. federal health agencies, compared with 43% in agency leaders.
• Associations: People have greater trust in health and science associations outside government, such as the American Heart Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and National Academy of Sciences, than in U.S. health agencies.

Why it’s important: Americans trust the American Medical Association (AMA) over federal health agencies for guidance concerning safe alcohol use.

• When asked which of 5 organizations they trust most when it comes to information about safe alcohol use, more choose the AMA (32%) than the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (14%) or CDC (9%).
• Small numbers chose the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association and Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, and 40% were not sure which to trust the most.