Americans Rate The National Park Service Highest Of 12 Federal Agencies And ICE Lowest

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Seventy-three percent of U.S. adults have a favorable view of the National Park Service, the highest of 12 federal agencies and departments in a Pew Research Center survey taken Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 and published Oct. 26. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ranked last, viewed favorably by 35% and unfavorably by 56%. The National Weather Service (72%) and the U.S. Postal Service (68%) ranked second and third.

A Park Service ranger helps visitors at the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center in Yellowstone National Park, June 2015. Photo: Jim Peaco, National Park Service, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The top three draw both parties

A new Postal Service delivery truck in Golden, Colorado, July 2025. Photo: Colohisto, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Republicans and Democrats rate the Park Service, the Weather Service and the Postal Service within five points of each other. The Park Service is viewed favorably by 76% of Republicans and 74% of Democrats, and the Postal Service by 66% of Republicans and 71% of Democrats. The IRS gets the same rating from both, 38%, though that is among the lowest scores in the survey.

Enforcement agencies split the parties most

ICE has the widest gap of any agency, with 67% of Republicans and 9% of Democrats viewing it favorably, a 58-point difference. The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, is seen favorably by 70% of Republicans and 22% of Democrats, and the Justice Department by 58% and 27%. Democrats rate four agencies more favorably than Republicans by 5 points or more: the CDC (54% to 41%), the Federal Reserve (53% to 46%), the Weather Service and the Postal Service.

Most agencies slipped from a year earlier

Nine of the 12 agencies had lower favorable ratings than a year earlier. The CDC fell the most, from 53% to 47%, and ICE fell from 40% to 35% while its unfavorable share rose from 49% to 56%. The Justice Department and the IRS each rose 1 point, and the FBI was unchanged at 48%.

What the data can't tell us

The survey measures opinions of each agency as a whole, not of specific policies or officials, and it doesn't ask why people hold those views. Pew interviewed 5,062 adults on its online American Trends Panel; the fact sheet does not list a margin of error, and changes of a few points from a year earlier may be within sampling error.

How we counted: favorable and unfavorable shares are from Pew Research Center's "How Americans View Federal Agencies" fact sheet, Oct. 26, 2026, based on a survey of 5,062 U.S. adults conducted Sept. 28 to Oct. 4, 2026. Party groups include independents who lean toward each party. Year-earlier figures are Pew's 2025 survey as shown on the fact sheet. ICE detail: Pew Research Center, "Americans' views of ICE grow more negative," Oct. 26, 2026. Sources: Pew Research Center fact sheet; Pew Research Center, Oct. 26, 2026.