To hear Donald Trump tell it, the American people love him and think he’s the greatest president in modern memory.
But two new polls suggest otherwise, with two-thirds of those surveyed saying Trump acted too slowly in response to the coronavirus pandemic and failed to adequately protect the nation from the disease, which has so far killed nearly 42,000 Americans.
The first poll comes from NBC News and The Wall Street Journal, and it has Trump losing badly in a head-to-head contest with Joe Biden. According to the poll, Biden leads the incumbent president 49-42 percent among registered voters. And that alone suggests that Trump has a steep mountain to climb if he wants to win a second term in office.
When it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, 44 percent of voters say they approve of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, while 52 percent disapprove in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey, which led pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates to note:
“Socially and economically, we have seen a sea change in attitudes in just a month.”
Additionally, only 36 percent of Americans said they trust Trump’s rhetoric on the disease. An overwhelming 52 percent said they do not trust what the president says about coronavirus. So on the single most important crisis Trump has faced, the majority of Americans don’t trust what this president says on the issue.
A separate poll from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center also has terrible news for Trump, with two-thirds (65 percent) of those responding saying the response to COVID-19 by Trump and his administration was too slow. That number is especially troubling for the White House as it proves that the vast majority of American voters feel that Trump has failed in his duties to protect them and the nation. And that means that 65 percent of Americans consider Trump to be a failed president.
Aaron Rupar of Vox noted that while Trump loves to brag about his shutting down travel from China to the United States as saving lives, most Americans aren’t buying that and the facts also suggest otherwise:
“The fact of the matter is the virus was already spreading within US borders by this time, so at best, the travel restrictions bought the federal government time that it didn’t use particularly well.”
The bottom line is that Trump administration was not the least bit prepared for this pandemic. They were a day late and several dollars short. And that alone suggests that voters will take their frustrations out on the incumbent president when the ballots are cast later this year.