A week ago, Donald Trump was riding high when it came to how the American public perceived his handling of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which has left over 4.600 Americans dead and another 209,000 infected with the often lethal disease.
Specifically, a Gallup tracking poll showed that 49 percent of those surveyed approved of the job Trump was doing overall as president and 60 percent said they approved of the job Trump was doing to fight the virus.
But in just eight days time, opinion has shifted drastically, according to a just-released POLITICO/Morning Consult poll:
“The survey, conducted immediately before President Donald Trump announced a 30-day extension of his physical and social distancing guidelines ‘to slow the spread’ of Covid-19, shows 47 percent of voters feel the administration isn’t doing enough in response to the outbreak, greater than the 40 percent who feel the administration is doing the right amount.”
Word from the White House Coronavirus Task Force Tuesday is likely to drive Trump’s bad poll results even higher, with Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the task force, revising the administration’s figures upward by 20 percent, predicting that anywhere from 100-240,000 Americans will die before the lethality of COVID-19 abates enough for the nation to get back to some semblance of normality.
In contrast to the current POLITICO poll, last week 43 percent of those asked said the administration wasn’t doing enough to defeat the virus. So the White House — and by extension Donald Trump himself — has seen a four-point loss of support in just a week. It seems safe to assume that the polls will continue to turn against the president as the casualties mount and the economy continues to sink.
A separate poll conducted by POLITICO/Morning Consult indicates that Trump’s overall approval rating currently stands at 45 percent, with 52 percent saying they don’t approve of his job performance.
Some other specifics inside the POLITICO poll also suggest dark clouds are on the horizon for Trump:
- 60 percent say they are “very concerned” about the outbreak
- 41 percent of voters say the virus has been “very disruptive” to their lives
Public opinion can be fickle and is constantly shifting. The latest results suggest that the general public is losing confidence in Donald Trump and don’t expect things to improve anytime soon under his so-called leadership.