FBI Director Kash Patel will face a grilling before Congress as fresh polling reveals that he has dragged the bureau’s reputation down by double digits in under a year.
Research conducted by Impact Research on behalf of Americans Against Government Censorship found that just 29 percent of Americans in congressional battleground districts view Patel favorably, compared with 40 percent who view him unfavorably—including 31 percent who hold a very unfavorable opinion.
The numbers are worse among the voters who matter most heading into the midterms. His popularity is 25 points underwater among independents and 17 points underwater among Americans undecided on the congressional generic ballot.
The FBI itself has not escaped the damage. A majority of Americans—55 percent—still view the bureau favorably, but its net favorability has fallen by 12 points in under a year, from a net positive of 32 in August 2025 to 20 in March 2026. Among independents, the drop was even steeper, falling 19 points.
The slide tracks closely with Patel’s rising public profile and the controversies that have accompanied it. It began in February, when the FBI director was filmed carousing with the U.S. Men’s Hockey team at the Milan Winter Olympics following their gold medal win, caught on camera chugging a beer and slapping a table. Trump was reportedly disappointed by the behavior and gave him a dressing down.
It has not improved since. An April investigation by The Atlantic, drawing on more than two dozen anonymous sources, reported that Patel’s drinking had become “a recurring source of concern across the government” and that he was “known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication”—a problem described as severe enough to “threaten national security.”
Patel denied the allegations and sued the publication for defamation.
But the fallout from his response has generated its own criticism. Reports have emerged of Patel ordering lie detector tests and potentially sending agents to surveil the journalists who reported the story. He has since retreated from public view, reportedly avoiding senior administration officials while waiting for coverage of his behavior to subside.
The survival calculus inside the West Wing is not encouraging for Patel. Three of the administration’s original Cabinet officials—former Attorney General Pam Bondi, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer—have already been removed.
A top White House official told Politico last month that “it’s only a matter of time” before Patel follows them out the door, with negative coverage of his conduct having reportedly become a distraction to the president.
Patel is now set to testify before Congress, a high-stakes appearance for a director whose public standing is underwater, whose bureau’s reputation has taken a measurable hit on his watch, and whose job security, according to those closest to the president, is far from guaranteed.
The White House and the FBI were contacted for comment. “Under President Trump and Director Patel’s leadership at the FBI, crime across the country has plummeted to the lowest level in more than 100 years and many high profile criminals have been put behind bars. Director Patel remains a critical player on the Administration’s law and order team,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the Daily Beast.
