These findings illustrate how people use simple partisan heuristics to make judgments about future government performance. Few people know about how the federal government responds to disease epidemics, but most people have views about President Obama and the job he is doing in office. That’s why Democrats are more confident in government’s capacity for an effective response than they were in 2006, for example, not because they approve of how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is being managed.

Personal worry about Ebola shows partisan differences as well, though smaller. When asked about the possibility that they or an immediate family member might catch the Ebola virus, 47 percent of Republicans said they were worried, compared to 39 percent of Democrats.

Given these patterns, fears about the Ebola response will continue to be disproportionately concentrated among Republicans — the partisans who are likely to be most receptive to criticism of the Obama administration for its handling of the issue. But if President Marco Rubio or Chris Christie takes over, look for Democrats to be the ones doubting the government again during the next big outbreak.