Another national poll shows Americans continue to disapprove of the way President Donald Trump is handling the COVID-19 pandemic tearing through the United States.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted from April 1 to 2 shows 52% of Americans disapprove of Trump's response to the raging pandemic. In contrast, 47% approve of Trump's actions thus far. ABC News said its previous poll taken from March 18 to 19 revealed a 55% approval and 43% disapproval.
Analysts said this high rating was due to Trump's declaring a state of national emergency on March 14 as the pandemic raged almost out of control and as Wall Street's major indices staged a modest rally. On the other hand, the ABC News/Ipsos poll of March 11 to 12 found 54% of respondents disapproved of Trump's response to the pandemic while 43% approved. At the time, Trump was assailed by congressional Republicans and administration officials over his public statements downplaying the threat posed by COVID-19.
The results of the ABC News/Ipsos poll are almost similar to that of a poll from Yahoo News/YouGov conducted from March 25 to 26. The Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows 49% disapprove of the way Trump is handling the COVID-19 crisis while 43% said otherwise.
A majority 60% of respondents said the Trump administration isn't adequately prepared to deal with the pandemic, while only 25% held the opposite view. YouGov said this result is a net 14-point shift against Trump since the last Yahoo News/YouGov poll. The latest YouGov poll also shows 60% of respondents rated their state and local governments' handling of the crisis as either excellent or good.
The poll also confirms Americans are now more worried about COVID-19 compared to two weeks ago. In this previous poll, only 37% paid "very close" attention to the coronavirus. This number now stands at 50%. In the past poll, 29% said there had been coronavirus cases in their community. This number now stands at 60%, indicating the rapid spread of the coronavirus across the U.S.
Americans have also become more fearful they'll become ill from COVID-19. The poll shows 40% of Americans now believe it's either somewhat or very likely they'll become ill compared to the previous 25%. Two weeks ago, 44% said the threat of the coronavirus was exaggerated. That number today stands only at 22% while 62% now say the threat isn't exaggerated as Trump and the Republicans claim.
The poll also shows 10% of respondents admitting they've lost their jobs because of the coronavirus. It also revealed 15% of respondents saying a family member had lost his job. Another 18% said their hours and income have been reduced.
