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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Poll Shows Broad Disapproval for Trump Handling of Coronavirus, Race Relations

With a little over 100 days left until Election Day, a majority of Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump's handling of race relations, the novel coronavirus and reopening the economy as hospitals across the country see a surge of patients infected with Covid-19.

(CN) — With a little over 100 days left until Election Day, a majority of Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump's handling of race relations, the novel coronavirus and reopening the economy as hospitals across the country see a surge of patients infected with Covid-19.

The results of the ABC News/Ipsos poll released Friday shows overwhelming disapproval with Trump's approach to the pandemic as the virus sees a mid-summer surge. Over two-thirds (67%) of U.S. adults disapprove and 33% approve the administration's response to Covid-19.

Like the virus, disapproval of Trump's handling of the virus has also spiked, according to the poll of 711 adults.

Disapproval grew from 54% in early March to 58% in early June, Friday’s poll shows the discontent shot up the first week of July.

The United States saw over 63,000 new infections and 990 deaths over a 24-hour period Thursday, according to the John Hopkins University and Medicine coronavirus tracker. In total, 3.1 million U.S. citizens have been infected with the deadly virus and over 135,000 are dead.

Disapproval of the Trump administration's handling of the virus is overwhelming among Democrats but disapproval is also starting to grow among independents and Republicans. Only 26% of polled independents approve of the president's approach, and while 78% of Republicans support the president’s handling of the pandemic, that figure is down from 90% in mid-June.

The reopening of the U.S. economy after months of the coronavirus lockdown began earlier this summer, and 58% of those polled say that was too quick. The president has pushed for a return to business as usual for months and earlier this week tweeted a threat to withhold federal funding from schools that do not reopen in the fall.

The topic of race relations in the U.S. was also brought up by pollsters.

As Trump ambles his way to the November election, his rhetoric at recent campaign rallies and public events has leaned heavily against what he calls the "radical left" and others who do not support his views. He has expressed disapproval of recent efforts to remove Confederate statues in the wake of anti-police brutality protests, which he’s also frequently blasted.

"We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters, and the people who, in many instances, have absolutely no clue what they are doing,” said Trump during a Fourth of July speech.

A supermajority (67%) of respondents disapprove of his handling of race relations as well. Still, while just 5% of those polled say they have a positive reaction when they see a Confederate flag and 43% say they have a negative reaction, the majority of respondents (52%) say they have neither reaction.

Categories / Politics

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