Two recent YouGov surveys explored how trustworthy Americans find both a variety of government agencies and various statistics collected by the U.S. government.

Americans are twice as likely to say Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is untrustworthy or very untrustworthy (50%) as they are to say it’s trustworthy or very trustworthy (26%).

Other parts of the government that Americans are more likely to find untrustworthy than trustworthy are the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) (41% vs. 28%), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (36% vs. 26%).

Which agencies are Americans most likely to see as trustworthy? A majority (57%) say the National Park Service is trustworthy or very trustworthy. Slightly fewer (52%) see the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as trustworthy (35%) or very trustworthy (17%).

In March 2025, fewer Americans rated as untrustworthy ICE (41% vs. 50% now); Customs and Border Protection, or CBP (29% vs. 37%); and the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS (29% vs. 37%).

Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to find the following agencies untrustworthy or very untrustworthy: ICE (82% vs. 14%), DOGE (68% vs. 8%), DHS (64% vs. 8%), CBP (63% vs. 8%), the Department of Defense (50% vs. 8%), and the Department of Justice (53% vs. 15%).

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is untrustworthy or very untrustworthy (32% vs. 15%). They’re also more likely to consider as untrustworthy the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA (30% vs. 20%) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC (36% vs. 26%).

The vast majority of Americans believe at least about half of the statistics reported by the government aren't reliable and accurate. Only about one-quarter (23%) believe all (3%) or most (20%) statistics reported by the government are accurate. 30% think about half are reliable and accurate, 34% think a small portion are, and 13% think none of the statistics reported by the government are reliable.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say none of the statistics reported by the government are reliable (20% vs. 3%).

In March 2025, a larger share of Americans believed most or all of the statistics reported by the government were reliable and accurate (36%).

40% of Americans somewhat trust (35%) or completely trust (5%) the data reported about the economy by the federal government. More (52%) distrust this data, including 26% who somewhat distrust it and 26% who completely distrust it.

Two-thirds (67%) of Republicans but only 22% of Democrats trust the data reported about the economy by the federal government.

Democrats are much less likely now than they were in March 2025 to completely or somewhat trust data reported about the economy by the federal government (22%, down from 54%).

Americans are more likely to say the following U.S. government statistics are untrustworthy than trustworthy: the number of COVID-19 deaths (51% vs. 21%), the number of people who immigrate illegally to the U.S. (47% vs. 24%), and the number of sexual assaults reported (42% vs. 23%).

Americans are less likely now than they were in March 2025 to rate as trustworthy each of the 10 U.S. government statistics asked about. The largest drops in the trustworthiness of government statistics were about the number of people who vote in national elections (30%, down from 43% in 2025) and ocean temperatures (33%, down from 45%).

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say government reports on the number of people who immigrate illegally to the U.S. are untrustworthy (47% vs. 31%). Democrats are also more likely to say the reported inflation rate (40% vs. 25%) and the number of sexual assaults reported (42% vs. 29%) are untrustworthy.

In March 2025, larger shares of Republicans rated as untrustworthy government statistics regarding the number of sexual assaults reported (49%, vs. 29% now) and the number of violent crimes reported (48% vs. 27%).

Half (50%) of Americans believe the U.S. government underestimates the number of sexual assaults reported; 19% believe it accurately estimates the number and 6% think it overestimates it. 44% think the U.S. government underestimates the unemployment rate and 6% think it overestimates it.

One-third (33%) say the U.S. government overestimates the number of people who immigrate illegally to the U.S.; almost as many (29%) think the government overestimates this figure.

Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to believe the U.S. government underestimates the unemployment rate (62% vs. 26%), the number of COVID-19 deaths (57% vs. 25%), the inflation rate (59% vs. 28%), and ocean temperatures (42% vs. 11%).

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe the government overestimates the number of COVID-19 deaths (38% vs. 13%).

Related:

See the results for the February 9 - 11, 2026 survey on government agencies and the February 17 - March 1, 2026 survey on government statistics.

— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article

Methodology: This article includes results from two 2026 online surveys conducted among 1,063 U.S. adult citizens on February 9 - 11 and among 1,073 U.S. adult citizens on February 17 - March 1. The following methodological description is true for each survey. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4 percentage points.

Image: Getty (Mike Lewis)

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