Most Americans Don’t Trust Biden for Accurate COVID Information

Americans’ trust in President Joe Biden to offer accurate information on COVID-19 is at its lowest point ever, according to a new poll.

Just 45% of Americans say they trust Biden to give them correct information on the coronavirus, while 53% say they don’t trust him very much or not at all, according to the results of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index, conducted between Sept. 24-27. Trust in Biden has dropped substantially since the president took office, with 58% saying they trusted Biden in an Axios/Ipsos poll conducted between Jan. 22-25.

Similarly, only 49% of Americans say they trust the federal government to provide accurate COVID-19 information, down from 54% two weeks ago.

“Delta and other issues have really undermined the public’s perception,” Cliff Young, president of Ipsos public affairs, told Axios, saying that the lack of a clear resolution to the pandemic and COVID-19 restrictions have contributed to a decline in trust.

The results of the poll follow comments made by Biden Monday that 97% of Americans would have to be vaccinated for the country to return to pre-pandemic life, a claim which baffled medical experts.

Predictably, there is a substantial partisan divide in trust, with 81% of Democrats, 42% of independents and 11% of Republicans saying they trust the president to provide accurate information on COVID-19. Biden’s decline among independents has been the largest, dropping 17 percentage points since he took office.

Fewer Americans are also seeing COVID-19 as threatening as they did earlier in the pandemic, with only 13% saying in-person gatherings with their families pose a threat to their health, and 12% saying eating in a restaurant is a risky activity. These numbers are each down five percentage points from two weeks ago.

The poll sampled 1,105 adults between Sept. 24–27 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.