CNN’s Harry Enten Highlights Americans’ Drastic Souring on FBI as Worries Loom Over Trump Nominee Kash Patel: ‘My Goodness Gracious’

CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten highlighted on Tuesday that polling shows a drastic drop in trust in the FBI and suggested that the declining faith in the institution might have factored into President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Kash Patel to lead it.

Enten joined CNN’s Kate Bolduan on Tuesday and argued that there is sufficient proof that Americans could back Patel’s proposed drastic changes to the FBI as there has been a sharp decline in support for it over the last 10 years. The current approval rating for the institution is the lowest it has been this century, according to data collected from Gallup.

Patel has received bipartisan backlash over his nomination.

“I think Patel has real reason to believe that Americans would go along changes he might potentially make at the FBI, and there’s a reason why Donald Trump feels like he can make this change,” Enten said.

In 2014, according to Gallup, 59% of Americans believed the FBI was doing an “excellent or good job.” That number dropped to 57% in 2019 and then 50% in 2022. In 2024, that number fell to just 41%. Enten chalked up the loss of trust to investigations into Trump during and after his first term in the White House.

“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 said. “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 6, look at that drop. 50%, now 41%. My goodness gracious.”

Watch above via CNN.