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.
Hunter Biden was indicted Thursday on federal firearms charges, the latest and weightiest step yet in a long-running investigation into the president’s son.
States and Native American tribes will have greater authority to block energy projects such as natural gas pipelines that could pollute rivers and streams under a final rule issued Thursday by the Biden administration.
A federal judge has declared the DACA immigration program illegal but will allow the policy to continue for existing recipients.
A judge in former President Donald Trump's Georgia election case rejected the prosecution's request to try all of the co-defendants together.
Florida Gov. and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said he does not support criminal penalties for women who get abortions.
Hunter Biden has sued a former Trump White House aide over his alleged role in publishing emails and personal photos online.
A federal judge has declared the DACA immigration program illegal but will allow the policy to continue for existing recipients.
A federal judge has declared illegal a revised version of a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola’s husband has died in an airplane crash, her office said in a statement Wednesday.
A request by Mark Meadows for an emergency stay on a ruling that sent his Georgia election interference case back to state court has been denied.
