Americans say Epstein files lowered their trust in U.S. political and business leaders
Washington, D.C., February 18, 2026 – A majority of Americans say that the Epstein files lowered their trust in the country’s political and business leaders and that the files show that powerful people are rarely held accountable for their actions, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The scandal surrounding the Epstein files entered its latest chapter following the U.S. Department of Justice’s release of more than three million pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein in late January, containing the names of numerous high-profile individuals.
Just over half of Americans say the sentiment that the Epstein files "lowered their trust in the country’s political and business leaders” describes their views extremely or very well (53%); another 24% say this sentiment describes their views somewhat well.
Skepticism extends to beliefs about accountability more broadly. Seven in ten (69%) say they feel the statement the Epstein files "show that powerful people in the U.S. are rarely held accountable for their actions” describes their views extremely or very well. Majorities across partisan groups feel this way, including 81% of Democrats, 68% of independents, and 58% of Republicans.
The survey also finds that large shares of Americans have doubts that the federal government has been transparent when it comes to the Epstein files. Three in four (75%) say they think it is definitely or probably true that the federal government is hiding information about the alleged clients of Epstein. Slightly fewer, but still a majority, feel the federal government is hiding information about the death of Epstein (65%). Both of these sentiments are roughly unchanged from previous Reuters/Ipsos polling conducted since July 2025.
The survey also finds that few think it’s time to move on from the scandal: Just one in five (21%) say the statement “it’s time for the country to move on from talking about the Epstein files” describes their views extremely or very well.
About the Study
This Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted February 13-16, 2026, by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,117 general population adults aged 18 or older.
The study was conducted in English. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race and ethnicity, census region, metropolitan status, education, household income, 2024 vote choice and political party identification. Political party identification benchmarks are from the 2025 NPORS annual survey, with a midyear adjustment estimated across aggregated KnowledgePanel surveys accounting for changes in panelists’ party identification over time. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2025 March supplement of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS).
- Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45-59 and 60+)
- Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other, Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, 2+ Races, Non-Hispanic)
- Education (Less than High School, High School, Some College, Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree or higher)
- Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
- Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
- Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
- 2024 Vote Choice (Trump, Harris, Another candidate, Did not vote)
- Political Party ID (Democrat, Lean Democrat, Republican, Lean Republican, Independent/Something else)
The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.0 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.06. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Alec Tyson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
[email protected]
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