Chart: How Americans Rate 16 Federal Government Agencies
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Come election time, America won’t hesitate to show its approval or disapproval of the country’s elected political representatives. That said, feelings about the federal bureaucracy and its associated agencies are a little harder to gauge.
We chart the results from an opinion poll conducted by Pew Research Center between March 13-19, 2023. In it, 10,701 adults—a representative of the U.S. adult population—were asked whether they felt favorably or unfavorably towards 16 different federal government agencies.
Americans Love the Park Service, Are Divided Over the IRS
Broadly speaking, 14 of the 16 federal government agencies garnered more favorable responses than unfavorable ones.
Of them, the Parks Service, Postal Service, and NASA all had the approval of more than 70% of the respondents.
| Agency | Favorable | Unfavorable | Not sure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🏞️ National Park Service | 81% | 7% | 12% |
| 📮 U.S. Postal Service | 77% | 20% | 3% |
| 🚀 NASA | 74% | 9% | 17% |
| 💼 Social Security Administration |
61% | 28% | 12% |
| 🔬 CDC | 56% | 38% | 6% |
| 🎖️ Veterans Affairs | 56% | 28% | 16% |
| 🌿 EPA | 55% | 31% | 14% |
| 💉 Health & Human Services |
55% | 30% | 15% |
| 🕵️ FBI | 52% | 36% | 12% |
| 🚗 Department of Transportation |
52% | 36% | 12% |
| 🛡️ Department of Homeland Security |
51% | 35% | 13% |
| ⚖️ Department of Justice |
49% | 41% | 10% |
| 🕵️♂️ CIA | 46% | 33% | 21% |
| 📚 Department of Education |
45% | 47% | 8% |
| 💰 Federal Reserve* | 43% | 37% | 20% |
| 💼 IRS | 42% | 51% | 7% |
Note: *The Federal Reserve is considered an instrument of the federal government but does not receive funding from it. However, it is not a private entity either, despite sharing certain characteristics with one. Figures are rounded. No answer responses are not shown.
Only the Department of Education and the IRS earned more unfavorable responses, and between them, only the IRS had a majority (51%) of unfavorable responses.
There are some caveats to remember with this data. Firstly, tax collection is a less-friendly activity than say, maintaining picturesque parks. Secondly, the survey was conducted a month before taxes were typically due, a peak time for experiencing filing woes.
Nevertheless, the IRS has come under fire in recent years. As per a New York Times article in 2019, eight years of budget cuts have stymied the agency’s ability to scrutinize tax filings from wealthier and more sophisticated filers.
At the same time poorer Americans are facing increasing audits on wage subsidies available to low income workers. According to a Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse report, this subset of filers was audited five-and-a-half more times the average American.
