American voters have again said former president Barack Obama would have handled the raging COVID-19 pandemic much better than president Donald Trump.
And they're now more vocal in saying Trump must bear responsibility for the horrific human suffering inflicted on them by COVID-19 under his watch. As of 06:42 GMT Sunday, that toll stood at 1.35 million confirmed cases and 80,040 deaths -- both of which are the largest in the world. From 1,000 to 2,000 Americans are dying every day because of this disease, based on data from Worldometer.
A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll reveals 47% of respondents hold the opinion the United States won't be suffering as much from the raging COVID-19 pandemic if Obama were in charge. On the other hand, 24% of respondents said the crisis would have remained the same if Obama were at the helm. A further 29% said Obama would have made it worse, according to the poll conducted May 4 to 5.
The poll results were split along party lines. It shows 79% of Democrats saying Obama will have made things better. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans say Obama would have made things worse. Among Independents, 45% said Obama would have made things better.
Analysts said this poll, whose results mirror that of a Politico/Morning Consult poll released April 8, confirm Americans are increasingly blaming Trump for the massive infection and death toll being inflicted by COVID-19.
The Politico/Morning Consult poll of 1,990 voters reveals 52% of respondents saying Obama will be a better leader than Trump in the COVID-19 crisis. Only 38% of respondents favored Trump. In addition, 42% of voters rated Trump's handling of the outbreak as "poor."
Obama has largely been absent from the national spotlight since leaving the White House in 2016. But he's been more active on social media and at other gatherings of late and on Saturday, unleashed his most blistering public attack on Trump yet.
Obama described Trump's response to the acovid-19 crisis as "an absolute chaotic disaster" in a speech to members of the Obama Alumni Association.
"It's part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty," said Obama. "It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset -- of 'what's in it for me' and 'to heck with everybody else' -- when that mindset is operationalized in our government."
