Few Americans trust the Secret Service after a gunman nearly killed Trump, an AP-NORC poll finds

Most Americans have doubts about the Secret Service's ability to keep presidential candidates safe after last month's attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life, a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds.

Only around 3 in 10 Americans are extremely or very confident that the Secret Service can keep the presidential candidates safe from violence before the election, according to the poll. The survey also found that about 7 in 10 Americans think the Secret Service bears at least a moderate amount of responsibility for the assassination attempt.

The law enforcement agency tasked with protecting presidents for more than a century is under intense scrutiny after a gunman got within 150 yards of Trump and fired several bullets from an AR-style rifle. Trump was injured in one ear but was millimeters away from being killed.

The poll was conducted after the resignation of director Kimberly Cheatle, who faced intense questioning at a congressional hearing that was broadcast live last week and in which she gave evasive answers. The new acting director Ronald Rowe said earlier this week that he was “ashamed” after the July 13 attack in Butler, Pennsylvania, saying he considered it indefensible that the roof used by the gunman was not secured.

During a news conference Friday, Rowe acknowledged the agency’s loss of trust from the American people. He said people generally only know about the agency’s failures — not its successes. He praised the agency’s staff who are quietly “working in the background” to protect political rallies, inauguration day and other events.

“We will earn back your trust,” he vowed.

The poll revealed that Americans were most likely to say that political division in the U.S. had “a great deal” of responsibility for the assassination attempt.

Half of U.S. adults say that, while about 4 in 10 say the Secret Service bears a high level of responsibility, and about 4 in 10 say the widespread availability of guns is greatly responsible.

Democrats were far more likely to blame the availability of guns while Republicans were more likely to blame the Secret Service.

Roger Berg, a 70-year-old farmer from Keota, Iowa, is planning to vote for Trump, the Republican nominee, in November. But he expressed discontent about Republicans blaming President Joe Biden for issues he thought Biden had no control over. Biden ended his reelection bid eight days after the shooting and has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, now the likely Democratic nominee.

“The people that are making everything about politics, I wish they would just quit,” Berg said. “They pin it all on Biden, and I don’t believe in that.”

Democrats, meanwhile, are substantially more likely than independents or Republicans to say the availability of guns bears a great deal of responsibility. Six in 10 Democrats say this, compared to about one-third of independents and 15% of Republicans.

Republican respondents were more likely than independents and Democrats to blame the Secret Service: About half of Republicans think the Secret Service has a great deal of responsibility, compared to around 4 in 10 Democrats and independents.

George Velasco, a 65-year-old Navy veteran from Tucson, Arizona, said he thought both the Secret Service and local law enforcement were to blame along with poor communication and a lack of proper planning. The Secret Service’s acting director said earlier this week that it was regrettable that local law enforcement had not alerted his agency before the shooting that an armed subject had been spotted on a roof, while also recognizing the Secret Service assumed that state and local police had presence.

“It was as if the Secret Service expected those guys to know what they had to do,” Velasco said. “It was a very small area, a small town. How did they expect them to know how to prepare for something huge like that rally?”

The poll found that half of Americans think local law enforcement in Pennsylvania had at least a moderate amount of responsibility for the assassination attempt, although only about 2 in 10 said it had “a great deal” of responsibility.

The Secret Service was first created as part of the Treasury Department to investigate the counterfeiting of U.S. currency during the Civil War. The agency began informally protecting presidents in 1894, according to the its records. Congress requested Secret Service protection of U.S. presidents after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901.

Protection was extended to the president's immediate family, presidents-elect and vice presidents after a White House police officer was shot and killed while protecting President Harry S. Truman in 1950. It was later extended to former presidents in 1965. After the 1968 assassination of U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who was running for the Democratic presidential nomination, Congress authorized protection of major presidential and vice presidential candidates.

About one-third of Americans are extremely or very confident that the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, will conduct a full and fair investigation of the assassination attempt, while about one-third are somewhat confident and about 3 in 10 are not very confident or not at all confident.

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The poll of 1143 adults was conducted July 25-29, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

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Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana contributed to this report.

FILE - Members of the Secret Service look on as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event, July 20, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Mich. Few Americans have high confidence in the Secret Service's ability to keep presidential candidates safe after last month's attempt on Trump's life. That is according to a new poll conducted July 25-29, from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Only around three in 10 Americans are extremely or very confident that the Secret Service can keep the presidential candidates safe from violence before the election. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is surrounded by Secret Service at a campaign event in Butler, Pa., July 13, 2024. Few Americans have high confidence in the Secret Service's ability to keep presidential candidates safe after last month's attempt on Trump's life. That is according to a new poll conducted July 25-29, 2024, from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Only around three in 10 Americans are extremely or very confident that the Secret Service can keep the presidential candidates safe from violence before the election. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the U.S military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of America targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries. But the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite U.S. and European military coalitions patrolling the area.

The U.S. military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the time, though the U.S. military’s Central Command did not elaborate on what their mission was and did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.

The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, Central Command said. On Dec. 15, Central Command acknowledged the Truman had entered the Mideast, but hadn't specified that the carrier and its battle group was in the Red Sea.

“The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18,” Central Command said in a statement.

From the military's description, the aircraft shot down was a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet assigned to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.

It wasn't immediately clear how the Gettysburg could mistake an F/A-18 for an enemy aircraft or missile, particularly as ships in a battle group remain linked by both radar and radio communication.

However, Central Command said that warships and aircraft earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Incoming hostile fire from the Houthis has given sailors just seconds to make decisions in the past.

Since the Truman's arrival, the U.S. has stepped up its airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their missile fire into the Red Sea and the surrounding area. However, the presence of an American warship group may spark renewed attacks from the rebels, like what the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower saw earlier this year. That deployment marked what the Navy described as its most intense combat since World War II.

On Saturday night and early Sunday, U.S. warplanes conducted airstrikes that shook Sanaa, the capital of Yemen that the Houthis have held since 2014. Central Command described the strikes as targeting a “missile storage facility” and a “command-and-control facility,” without elaborating.

Houthi-controlled media reported strikes in both Sanaa and around the port city of Hodeida, without offering any casualty or damage information. In Sanaa, strikes appeared particularly targeted at a mountainside known to be home to military installations. The Houthis later acknowledged the aircraft being shot down in the Red Sea.

The Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage.

Israel’s grinding offensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say. The tally doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate U.S.- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.

The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

The Houthis also have increasingly targeted Israel itself with drones and missiles, resulting in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.

The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) steams in the Mediterranean Sea, Dec. 15, 2025. (Kaitlin Young/U.S. Navy via AP)

FILE - Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)

FILE - A fighter jet maneuvers on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea, June 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)