A recent Pew Research Center survey suggests that Democrats and Republicans have traded places in their views of federal agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services.
Between 2023 and 2025, Republican favorable views of the FBI and of the Justice Department grew from 38% to 54% and 40% to 51%, respectively. Unfavorable GOP views of the FBI and of the department dropped 53% to 34% and 50% to 35%, respectively, per Pew data.
The numbers were nearly mirror-opposite for Democrats. From 2023 to 2025, Democratic favorable views of the FBI and the Justice Department dropped from 65% to 45% and 57% to 28%, respectively, and their unfavorable views of the FBI and of the department rose 22% to 39% and 34% to 58%, respectively, per Pew data.
Some 68% of Republicans and 26% of Democrats view the U.S. Department of Homeland Security favorably, according to Pew. “Last year, Democrats were more likely than Republicans to rate DHS favorably,” Pew said.
Alyza Lewin, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, told JNS that the Trump administration’s focus on fighting Jew-hatred isn’t necessarily playing a role in improving GOP favorable views of U.S. federal agencies.
“Could that have influenced some of the people who responded to this survey? Sure,” she told JNS. “But all the other issues could have impacted it too.”
“Jews are worried that, at the end of the day, everyone will think that the reason everyone is doing whatever they’re doing is because of the Jews, and the Jews are going to get blamed, and it’s going to be a rise in antisemitism,” she told JNS.
That’s why Jewish communities are often reluctant to use available tools, only to be blamed later for what follows, according to Lewin.
“At the same time, it is the first time in history that a president of the United States has really issued a call and put in motion a government-wide effort to use whatever tools in the toolbox exist to address the problem of antisemitism,” Lewin told JNS.
Lewin has found that the Trump administration’s actions are impacting the federal agencies she deals with on behalf of clients.
“Universities have reached out to engage in conversations to try and understand what meaningful steps they can take to seriously address the antisemitism on their campus,” she said.
“The way that the administration has highlighted the issue and made it clear that it’s not only a serious issue, but it’s a serious issue that requires serious, dramatic attention, has gotten the attention of people who are in positions to actually take meaningful steps,” Lewin said.
“Overall, the effort is clearly having a positive impact on the kind of work that we do,” she said.
