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.
“Oh geez!” Bolduan exclaimed.
“Among Republicans, is the FBI ‘doing an excellent or good job’ — this is where you really see the drop off. You go back to 2014 … It was 62%. 2019, look at that, 46%. 2022, 29%. Now we’re tied for the lowest point this century among Republicans at 26%,” Enten said. “That is a drop of more than half since 2014. So again, you saw some of that drop during the Trump administration. You know, obviously he replaced [former FBI Director] James Comey, and then you see it really after January 6th, 29%. And now 26%. That is a tremendous, tremendous drop off among Republicans.”
The data reporter also noted Democrats’ faith in the FBI surged from 54% in 2014 to 79% in 2022 before falling to 67% in 2024.
“The bottom line is this … Republicans have become much less trusting of the FBI, Democrats have become more trusting, though the number who trust it now, who think it’s ‘doing an excellent or good job,’ is lower than it was two years ago,” he said. “And that is why we have the lowest percentage this century of Americans overall, who believe the FBI is doing an excellent or good job.”
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