A month after Epstein files deadline, Americans still think government is intentionally holding back info, CNN poll finds

Documents that were included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files are photographed Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

Few Americans are satisfied with the amount of evidence released in the Jeffrey Epstein case, a CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds, with most saying they believe the government is intentionally holding back information.

The poll was conducted a little less than a month after the Dec. 19 deadline that Congress gave the Justice Department to release all of its files about Epstein.

The Justice Department estimated earlier in January that it had released less than 1 per cent of its Epstein-related files. Department officials told a court Friday they had enlisted approximately 80 more attorneys from the department’s criminal division to work with prosecutors in New York’s Southern District to review documents related the convicted sex offender.

A two-thirds majority of Americans say the federal government is intentionally holding back some information about the Epstein case that should be released, while just 16 per cent say the government is making an effort to release all information possible. The remainder say they haven’t heard enough about the case to say.

Nearly 9 in 10 Democrats and 72 per cent of independents say the government is intentionally withholding information, as do 42 per cent of Republicans.

Only about one-third of Republicans think the government is making an effort to release information, with the rest not weighing in either way.

Just 6 per cent of Americans say they’re satisfied with what the federal government has released so far, little changed from 3 per cent in a July 2025 survey. A 49 per cent plurality say they’re dissatisfied, with the remainder saying that it doesn’t matter to them or that they haven’t heard enough to say.

Just 12 per cent of Republicans, 3 per cent of Democrats and 3 per cent of independents say they’re satisfied with the information released. But partisan concerns have shifted as President Donald Trump, who pushed Republicans not to vote for the bill establishing the Dec. 19 deadline and rejected the files as a Democratic “hoax.”

Republicans have grown likelier to dismiss the relevance of the amount of information released. A 67 per cent majority say that it doesn’t matter or that they haven’t heard enough to say, up from 56 per cent last summer. And 21 per cent now say they’re dissatisfied, down from 40 per cent.

Democrats, meanwhile, have moved in the opposite direction: Seventy-one percent call themselves dissatisfied, up from 56 per cent in July, while the share who don’t offer an opinion is 27 per cent, down from 41 per cent. Views among independents have barely shifted over that time, with 54 per cent saying they’re dissatisfied and 43 per cent offering no opinion.

By Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN