‘Look At That Drop’: CNN’s Harry Enten Stunned By Plunge In Americans Trusting FBI After J6

CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten expressed surprise Monday at the significant decline in Americans’ trust in the FBI following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he will nominate former Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense Kash Patel as his FBI Director. Enten, on “CNN News Central,” suggested Patel’s potential reform agenda might resonate with the public due to the agency’s dwindling credibility among Americans.

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“I think Patel has real reason to believe that Americans would go along with changes that he might potentially make at the FBI and there’s a reason why Donald Trump feels like he can make this change,” Enten told CNN anchor Kate Bolduan. “It’s because, if you look here, ‘FBI is doing an excellent or a good job,’” he read off the screen. “Look at this time trend line. You go back to 2014, right? It was 59% of Americans. Then 57% in 2019, 50% in 2022.”

“Look at where we are today. My goodness gracious. Just 41% of Americans think the ‘FBI is doing an excellent or good job.’ That is by far the lowest number this century,” he continued. “The bottom line is, during the Trump administration, obviously there were the investigations into Donald Trump, you saw a little bit of drop then and then post January 6th. Look at that drop, 50% now 41%. My goodness gracious, Kate Bolduan.”

Bolduan then asked Enten about how Americans view the FBI “along party lines,” with Enten showing a graphic revealing that just over one fourth of Republicans view the agency favorably.