The U.S. Secret Service is now trusted less than the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to do its job, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.
According to the poll conducted from Sept. 3 through 15, only 32% of respondents said the U.S. Secret Service was doing an “excellent/good” job and 36% saying they were doing a poor job, with the IRS receiving a 34% excellent or good rating. With now two failed assassination attempts this year on former President Donald Trump, most recently at his golf course in Palm Beach, Florida, the figure marks the lowest approval rating for the Secret Service since 2014.
“Since 2014, an average of 53% of Americans have rated the Secret Service positively,” Gallup said. “Yet, this year is not the first time the agency has failed to receive a majority-level excellent or good rating. The initial 43% positive rating in 2014 followed several security lapses, including one in which an intruder jumped a fence and entered the White House.”
Democrats have more faith in the Secret Service on average, with 47% of Democrats saying the agency is doing a good or excellent job, compared to only 20% of Republicans, according to the poll. Both ratings fell across parties however, with Democrats approval declining 18 points since 2023 and Republican approval dropping 26 points in the same time frame.
The IRS approval rating declined from 50% in 2019 to 37% in 2021, according to a 2021 Gallup poll. In 2024, Republicans disapprove of the IRS more than Democrats by a large margin, with only 19% of Republicans saying the IRS does an excellent or good job, compared to 50% of Democrats, according to the poll.
On average, Democrats rate all government agencies higher than Republicans, according to the poll. The most liked government agency overall was the U.S. Postal Service, which received a 59% excellent or good rating from respondents.
The Secret Service enjoyed a high approval rating since 2014, reaching a high of 69% excellent or good rating in 2019, according to the poll. The recent drop in approval is similar to how the Center for Disease Control (CDC) saw a 24 point drop from 2019 to 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over a quarter of Democrats said the U.S. would be better off if Trump was shot dead by his most recent would-be assassin in Palm Beach, according to a Sept. 18 poll. Just under half of respondents said that anti-Trump rhetoric was responsible for the attempt on his life.
The poll surveyed 1,007 adults with a 4% margin for error, with questions asked over cellphone or landline connections.
U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Howe told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement that the Secret Service is proud of its record, citing its work at the NATO Summit, the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention. Howe also said the poll numbers don’t measure the “hard work and dedication” of the personnel.
“The results of [the] recent Gallup poll, which contained negative feedback about the U.S. Secret Service and other federal agencies, are disappointing. Such sentiment, however, overlooks the tremendous efforts and successes that our special agents and uniformed division police officers accomplish every day,” Howe told the DCNF. “That success is incumbent on the many sacrifices that the men and women of the Secret Service, and by extension their families, must make to protect our highest elected leaders, candidates, and visiting heads of state during a time of unprecedented mission tempo and a dynamic threat environment.”
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