The numbers tell a bleak story for U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose approval rating has plunged 47 points in just ten months, according to new polling that lands like a thud inside the Department of Justice.
Survey data from AtlasIntel shows Bondi’s net approval sliding from plus six points in February to minus 41 by December. The poll, conducted between December 15 and 19 among 2,315 respondents, carries a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points and marks the lowest point of her tenure.
The timing could hardly be worse. The survey closed just days before Bondi’s DOJ released heavily redacted files connected to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reigniting public anger and conspiracy-laced suspicion over who is being protected and why.
In November, President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, promising sunlight on the case that has long festered in the public imagination. What followed instead was a partial release shrouded in black ink. The DOJ said the redactions were necessary to protect victims’ identities, but critics across the political spectrum called the move evasive and self-serving.
Democrats went further, openly floating impeachment for senior Justice Department officials, including Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, accusing them of sanitizing a release that was supposed to deliver clarity. The backlash appears to have landed squarely on Bondi’s shoulders.
AtlasIntel’s data shows Bondi’s popularity peaking in February, when 49 percent approved of her performance and 43 percent disapproved. From there, the descent was steady and punishing. By August, her net approval had sunk to minus 27, with nearly two-thirds of respondents expressing disapproval. A brief September bump proved fleeting. December’s numbers are brutal: 67 percent disapprove, just 26 percent approve.
The slide is not happening in isolation. The same poll found Trump’s own approval underwater, with 59.6 percent disapproving and 39.3 percent approving in December, a net rating of minus 20 points and a further drop from November.
Mark Shanahan, a U.K.-based scholar who teaches American politics at the University of Surrey, framed Bondi’s problem as existential rather than cyclical. He argued that the attorney general’s role now appears nakedly political, pointing to what he described as a “heavily redacted and seemingly politically curated” Epstein release. Shanahan noted that figures like former President Bill Clinton were prominent in the released material, while Trump himself appeared conspicuously absent. The result, he said, fell far short of the transparency the law promised.
In Shanahan’s assessment, Bondi is widely viewed not as an independent guardian of the law, but as an instrument of Trump’s political machinery. That perception, he warned, may be impossible to reverse.
Bondi has pushed back publicly. Writing on X over the weekend, she reiterated that the DOJ intends to bring charges against anyone involved in the trafficking and exploitation of Epstein’s victims, urging survivors to come forward and promising immediate investigation. She emphasized ongoing meetings with victims’ groups and pledged what she called an equal standard of justice.
The White House has closed ranks. Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson insisted the Trump administration remains the most transparent in history and defended Bondi as delivering on the president’s promises. She accused Democrats of selective outrage, arguing they should instead be pressing figures like Bill Clinton, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Delegate Stacey Plaskett for answers.
For now, the damage is measurable and severe. Bondi’s approval rating sits at a record low, and the Epstein files have once again proven radioactive. The DOJ says more documents will be released in the coming weeks. Whether additional disclosures restore trust or deepen the crater remains an open question, but the polls suggest the public’s patience, like Bondi’s numbers, is rapidly running out.
