Poll: 61% say Trump unprepared for virus
As he leads the U.S. through the coronavirus outbreak, President Donald Trump’s job approval rating has swelled to some of its highest levels since he took office.
But a new Politico/Morning Consult poll shows voters may be becoming frustrated with the White House’s handling of the crisis, which the administration says could kill 100,000 to 240,000 people in the U.S.
Overall, 61% of registered voters in that poll said Trump was not prepared to handle the outbreak.
Forty-six percent of registered voters said Trump was “very unprepared” to deal with the crisis, and another 15% said he was “somewhat unprepared.” Fourteen percent said the president was “very prepared” and 18% said he was “somewhat prepared.”
The responses varied greatly by political party. Sixty-three percent of Republicans thought Trump had been prepared, while 85% of Democrats did not. Sixty-five percent of independents thought the president was unprepared, and 26% said he was prepared (only 8% of them said “very prepared”).
Congress did not fare much better, with 28% saying it was prepared and 62% saying it was not.
Overall, 45% of voters approved of the job Trump was doing as president, while 52% disapproved. But other recent polls have found Trump’s approval rating was higher, including an ABC News/Washington Post poll that found more voters approving of his performance than disapproving.
His average approval rating on RealClearPolitics is the highest it has been since he was sworn in. And polling analysis site FiveThirtyEight’s presidential approval tracker also found Trump to be enjoying his best numbers since January 2017.
But the bump could fade if voters express increasing dissatisfaction with the president’s response to the crisis.
Here are some more results from the Politico poll that could signal trouble for the president:
Is the Trump administration doing enough to combat the virus?
❚ Right amount: 40%
❚ Not enough: 47%
How would you rate the president’s handling of the outbreak?
❚ Excellent: 25%
❚ Good: 18%
❚ Just fair: 11%
❚ Poor: 40%
How much would you trust the president if he ended the recommendation against gathering in groups of 10 or more?
❚ A lot: 17%
❚ Some: 20%
❚ Not much: 14%
❚ Not at all: 41%
The online poll was conducted March 27-29 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.