Hutchinson bests Trump in survey

When it comes to handling the pandemic, Arkansans give higher marks to Gov. Asa Hutchinson than to President Donald Trump, according to a poll by the COVID-19 Consortium for Understanding the Public’s Policy Preferences Across States.

Overall, 66% of Arkansans favored Hutchinson’s covid-19 response; 53% backed Trump’s response.

Of the 483 respondents, 22% strongly approved of Hutchinson’s handling of the crisis while 44% approved; 21% neither approved nor disapproved, 10% disapproved and 3% strongly disapproved.

The poll, conducted April 16-26, had an error margin of plus or minus 6%.

Arkansans also gave Trump favorable marks for his coronavirus response: 28% strongly approved, 25% approved; 16% neither approved nor disapproved, 14% disapproved and 17% strongly disapproved.

Overall, 482 Arkansans shared their views about Trump. The error margin was listed as plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Asked how much they trust Trump to do “the right thing to best handle the current coronavirus (covid-19) outbreak,” 32% of Arkansans said “a lot”; 30% said “some”; 13% said “‘not too much”; and 26% said “not at all.”

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was trusted “a lot” by 18% of Arkansans; “some” by 29%; “not too much”’ by 24%; and “‘not at all” by 29%.

The survey was conducted by researchers from Harvard University, Rutgers University and Northeastern University, and is posted at http://www. kateto.net/COVID19%20CONSORTIUM%20REPORT%20April%202020.pdf.