Trust in government agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has eroded in recent months, according to a poll from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC, told Cheddar the drop stems from the politicization of public health during the coronavirus pandemic.
"Repeatedly during this crisis, we've seen instances where the political sector has reached in and changed public health guidance from CDC," he said. "That is a real problem."
Indeed, House Democrats are currently investigating whether the Trump administration pressured CDC officials to alter or delay information on the coronavirus.
Besser said one challenge for the CDC is that it doesn't often speak with the public directly.
"There's incredibly important information coming out from the CDC every single day," he said. "Unfortunately the CDC is not in a position where they're talking to the public through the media every day to be able to lift up that information."
Once that information is politically influenced, he added, "then people have to pick and choose and say 'well is this a guidance that's science-based, or is this one that's politically based?'"
Bessner described trust as one of the CDC's most important tools because early on in a crisis the agency depends on people following the advice of experts despite considerable uncertainty.
Surrounded by dozens of cheering people in green clothes, Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill Tuesday to legalize recreational marijuana for people over the age of 21, making Minnesota the 23rd state to legalize the substance for adults.
Texas would expand what is considered an illegal public performance of sexual conduct, under a bill approved late Sunday by state lawmakers that drag artists fear will be used to criminalize their shows.
Russia's Interior Ministry on Monday issued an arrest warrant for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham following his comments related to the fighting in Ukraine.
A rare drone attack jolted Moscow early Tuesday, causing only light damage but forcing evacuations as residential buildings were struck in the Russian capital for the first time in the war against Ukraine.
President Joe Biden said the U.S. will consider sanctioning those responsible for the "tragic violation" of human rights.
Some House Democrats will have to vote for McCarthy's bill if enough conservative Republicans keep their word to oppose any compromise.
A South Carolina judge temporarily blocked the state's newly-imposed ban on abortion after six weeks.
The U.S. Supreme Court has stripped federal agencies of authority over millions of acres of wetlands, weakening a bedrock environmental law enacted a half-century ago to cleanse the country’s badly polluted waters.
They are racing for an agreement this weekend.
New Census figures show about 1 in every 100 U.S. households is a same-sex couple.
