Americans' approval of several Cabinet departments has slipped over the past year, according to a Gallup survey released Thursday. The annual Governance poll asked respondents to rate five federal departments and a dozen agencies, and four of the five departments saw their positive ratings decline.
The State Department, the Justice Department, and the Defense Department all posted their lowest approval numbers since Gallup began tracking them in 2021 or 2022. The Defense Department fell eight points to 40% approval, while State dropped from 34% to 27%. Justice dipped from 31% to 27%.
The Homeland Security Department also took a hit, falling from 42% to 36% positive. Gallup linked the slide to recent deadly encounters during immigration enforcement, noting that border crossings had plummeted in late 2024 and 2025, which had boosted the department's numbers last year.
The Justice Department drew the harshest reviews, with 48% of respondents saying it is doing a poor job—21 points higher than its positive rating. That gap was the largest of any department surveyed.
On the bright side, the Veterans Affairs Department saw its approval climb from 25% to 31%, the only department to improve.
Partisanship shaped the results. Republicans and GOP-leaning independents gave higher marks to the departments than Democrats did. No more than 24% of Democrats rated any Cabinet department positively, with just 11% approving of the Justice Department.
Among the 12 agencies tested, the U.S. Postal Service and NASA earned the highest approval, while the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received the lowest.
The poll, conducted September 1–17, has a margin of error of four percentage points. The findings come as public trust in government institutions remains fragile, a trend that has been echoed in recent Gallup data on elected officials and broader attitudes toward government transparency.
