According to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” confident that the Department of Justice will act in a fair and nonpartisan manner during president-elect Donald Trump’s second term, and their faith in the neutrality of the FBI is similarly low, the Associated Press reports. The poll was conducted before the beginning of the confirmation hearings for Trump’s Cabinet, and even some Republicans express uncertainty in the Justice Department and the FBI, suggesting that even once they take office, Trump and his allies may find it challenging to restore trust in the law enforcement agencies they’ve heavily criticized, the Associated Press reports.
Trump has selected loyalists to lead the Department of Justice and the FBI after threatening to retaliate against perceived adversaries. Relatively few Americans are confident that these agencies will act in a fair and impartial manner over the next four years, according to the poll. About half of Americans are “not very” or “not at all” confident that the Justice Department and the FBI will act in a fair and nonpartisan manner during Trump’s second term, while about one-third are “somewhat” confident and about 2 in 10 are “extremely” or “very” confident. Even as a new GOP administration prepares to take control, Republicans are split on whether the DOJ and the FBI will remain neutral. Only about one-quarter of Republicans are at least “very” confident that the agencies will behave in a nonpartisan way, while about 4 in 10 are “somewhat” confident and roughly one-third are “not very” or “not at all” confident.