Do U.S. Intelligence Agencies Have Their Own Agenda?
A majority of voters believe that U.S. intelligence agencies follow their own political agenda, and two-thirds suspect the agencies are influencing the news media.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 48% of Likely U.S. voters view the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) favorably, including 17% with a Very Favorable impression. Forty-one percent (41%) view the CIA unfavorably, including 22% with a Very Unfavorable opinion. Ten percent (10%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Fifty-one percent (51%) now think U.S. intelligence agencies have their own political agenda – up from 45% in 2018 – while 36% believe the agencies generally perform impartially. Another 13% are not sure.
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The survey of 924 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on September 27-28 and October 1, 2023 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research.
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