Do Americans trust White House on Trump’s health? Here’s what a new poll found
Many Americans are skeptical the White House has been fully transparent about President Donald Trump’s health, according to a new YouGov survey.
The survey — conducted Sept. 2 with 1,678 U.S. adults — comes after social media erupted with speculation over Labor Day weekend that Trump was in ill health, with posts highlighting his recent lack of public appearances.
Trump dismissed these reports as “fake news” during a Sept. 2 Oval Office news conference.
“Last week, I did numerous news conferences, all successful,” he said. “And then I didn’t do any for two days, and they said ‘there must be something wrong with him.’”
“[Former President Joe] Biden wouldn’t do them for months, you wouldn’t see him,” he added. “And nobody ever said there was ever anything wrong with him, and we know he wasn’t in the greatest of shape.”
Here is a breakdown of the poll results.
Public opinion on Trump’s health
Survey respondents were asked, “To what extent do you trust information that the White House releases about President Trump’s health?”
A slim majority, 52%, said they trust this information “only a little” (13%) or “not at all” (39%).
A smaller share said they trust the government’s communiques “some” (17%) or “a great deal” (18%). An additional 13% said they were not sure.
The results largely broke along partisan lines.
Seventy-eight percent of Democrats said, when it comes to Trump’s health, they trust the White House only a little or not at all. Meanwhile, 63% of Republicans said they have some or a lot of trust.
In July 2024, similar shares of respondents said they lacked trust in White House communications related to Biden’s health. That same month, Biden ended his 2024 presidential bid amid growing doubts about his physical and mental fitness, which intensified after his June debate performance against Trump. In May, several months after leaving office, he was diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer.
The latest survey — which has a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points — also asked respondents whether “Trump has provided enough information about his physical health.”
A 49% plurality said he has not released enough information, while 29% disagreed. Twenty-two percent said they were not sure. Here, again, Democrats were far more likely than Republicans to express skepticism.
More on president’s health
Trump, 79, is tied with Biden for being the oldest president ever inaugurated. Both men were 78 when they took office in 2021 and 2024.
In April, Trump underwent his yearly physical exam, after which White House physician Sean Barbabella concluded he “remains in excellent health.”
On July 17, the White House released a letter from Barbabella announcing Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which was described as “benign.”
The letter also addressed photos depicting bruising on the president’s hand. Barbarella said this was a result of “frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin,” which he said Trump takes as a preventative cardiovascular measure.
Meanwhile, some experts have expressed skepticism about presidential health pronouncements, pointing to past cover-ups and the absence of legal mandates for full transparency.
“We have learned over and over again — including in recent times — that politicians have deceived the public about their health in very high stakes ways,” Jacob M. Appel, a professor at the Icahn School of Medicine and presidential health historian, previously told McClatchy News.
In a May YouGov/Economist poll, 57% of respondents said they believed government officials “actively tried to conceal information” about Biden’s health.