Last week, an ABC News/Ipsos poll found that despite overwhelmingly negative media coverage, 55 percent of voters approve of the way Trump “is handling the response to the coronavirus,” which is up from 43 percent from a week earlier. An Axios/Harris poll released at the same time showed similar numbers, with 56 percent of Americans approving of Trump’s response to the pandemic, up from 51 percent in their previous poll. A Monmouth poll released Tuesday also showed that 50 percent of Americans believe Trump is doing a good job.
If you’ve watched how the media has been covering the coronavirus pandemic, it’s hard to imagine that Trump could be polling so well. I mean, come on, the media is spreading lies, accusing him of being racist, even blaming him for the death of a man who drank fish tank cleaner. Are these polls flukes? Outliers?
Definitely not.
A new poll from Gallup shows that Trump’s presidential job approval has jumped to 49 percent this week, matching a previous high level, which was up 5 points from the last survey. As for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, well, Gallup reports that “Americans give the president generally positive reviews for his handling of the situation, with 60% approving and 38% disapproving. Ninety-four percent of Republicans, 60% of independents and 27% of Democrats approve of his response.”
60 percent approval for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic!
To put that into perspective, Gallup measured approval of Obama’s handling of the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic back in 2009 at 66 percent–and that’s when the media was giving him glowing coverage.
So, we now have four polls that show the public giving Trump high marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “Two aspects of Trump’s latest approval rating suggest a presidential approval rally effect,” explains Gallup Senior Editor Jeffrey Jones. “His rating shows a fairly sudden increase, and that increase is seen among both independents and Democrats — both highly unusual for Trump in particular.”
_____
Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
Join the conversation as a VIP Member