Polls suggest public approval of Trump’s job combating coronavirus fading

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John Roberts reports from the White House.

President Trump has repeatedly praised the federal government’s response to the coronavirus crisis.

“Everybody is amazed at the job we’re doing,” Trump touted at Monday’s White House briefing. “And the public is starting to find out.”

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But the president’s comments don’t seem to square with new national polling.

Fifty-four percent of Americans questioned in a new national survey from Monmouth University said the federal government’s measures have not gone far enough to slow the spread of the virus across the country. That’s up 9 percentage points from a month ago. Just 35 percent said the federal government’s measures have been appropriate, down from 47 percent in March.

The survey, released Wednesday, also indicates that 55 percent said the federal government’s not doing enough to help states hard hit by the pandemic, with 37 percent saying Washington is doing enough.

“Most Americans disagree with the Trump administration’s position that the federal government is a backup to the states. The public seems to view this as a national crisis that requires a national response on par with the aggressive approach taken by the states,” Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray highlighted.

A CNN national poll also released Wednesday showed that 41 percent think the federal government’s doing a good job of preventing the spread of the virus. That’s down 7 points from late last month. Fifty-five percent rated Washington’s response as poor, up 8 points.

A third national poll released on Wednesday suggests that a majority feel that President Trump hasn’t acted with enough force in combating the coronavirus. Fifty-five percent of registered voters questioned in a Quinnipiac University survey said that the president had not acted aggressively enough in responding to the crisis, with 41 percent saying he response has been about right and 2 percent saying Trump’s been too aggressive.

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Forty-six percent of those questioned in the Monmouth poll said the president’s done a good job dealing with the pandemic, with 49 percent saying he’s done a bad job. In a Monmouth survey from two weeks earlier, half of those questioned said Trump was doing a good job and 45 percent gave him a thumbs down.

The president’s approval rating on handling the coronavirus is also slightly underwater in the Quinnipiac poll, at 46 percent approval and 51 percent disapproval.

By comparison, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, earned a 78 percent approval rating, with just 7 percent disapproving of his performance.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York – the state hardest hit by the pandemic – stood at 59-17 percent approval-disapproval in the Quinnipiac poll.