Nearly Two-Thirds Of Americans Disapprove Of Donald Trump’s Handling Of Coronavirus, Poll Says

An ABC News-Ipsos poll released on Sunday found that almost two-thirds of Americans surveyed disapprove of Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, The Hill reported. In particular, 65 percent claimed that they do not support the U.S. leader’s handling of the crisis, while 35 said they support his response. The poll comes almost eight months after the first coronavirus case was confirmed in the United States and is the fourth since early July when approval of Trump’s handling of the crisis was in the low- to mid-30s.

As noted by The Hill, approval for Trump’s approach to the crisis is split along party lines — 80 percent of Republicans support his efforts to control the pandemic, while just 5 of Democrats do. In addition, 31 percent of independents are in favor of his approach.

“A majority of Americans also do not trust what Trump says about the virus and believe the president’s response to the virus was too slow,” the report read.

This particular finding echoed an NBC News/SurveyMonkey from last month that found that 31 percent of respondents trust the U.S. leader on COVID-19. Meanwhile, 51 percent said they believe Anthony Fauci — the nation’s leading infectious disease expert.

The majority of respondents in the recent ABC News data — 67 percent — believe that Trump’s response to the virus was too slow. Conversely, 31 percent believe he acted at the right moment, and just 1 think he worked too quickly. The findings come in the wake of leaked audio from Trump’s interview with Bob Woodward when he admitted that he knew the danger of the coronavirus as he continued to downplay its severity to the public.

“This is stuff that everyone knew,” he said in a February 7 call with Woodward, per CNBC.

“There’s a report that I have here someplace where China said it was airborne earlier than the statements I made. People knew it was airborne.”

Elsewhere in the survey, respondents were divided on their belief in Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his ability to handle COVID-19. While 51 percent said they trusted him a “good amount” or a “great deal,” 49 said they trusted him “not at all” or “not so much.”

Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller brushed off the results on ABC’s This Week and pointed to the purported American faith in Trump’s approach to the economy and efforts to push through a vaccine.

“Americans very much trust President Trump to help us recover with the economy, and Americans also believe that President Trump is the one who is best positioned to lead us to a vaccine.”