Six in 10 Americans approve of the job President Trump is doing to battle the coronavirus crisis, Gallup reported this week. The president’s approval rating hit 49% — the highest of his presidency, the polling group said.
But the media — that’s a whole ‘nother story.
A new Gallup study about Americans’ view of the handling of the coronavirus crisis by nine different entities — from hospitals and schools to employers and Congress — put the news media dead last — and the only one in which the disapproval rate was higher than the approval rate.
“Americans are generally positive in their evaluations of how each of nine leaders and institutions has handled the response to the coronavirus situation,” Gallup wrote. “Eight of the nine receive majority positive ratings — led by U.S. hospitals, at 88% approval. Only the news media gets a more negative than positive review.”
The news media fared worse than the Centers for Disease Control, state government, Vice President Mike Pence, President Trump, and even Congress, which almost always has a negative rating from Americans.
Gallup asked 536 adults, “Do you approve or disapprove of the way each of the following is handling the response to the coronavirus in the U.S.?”
U.S. hospitals: 88% approved, 10% disapproved
Your child’s school or daycare: 83 – 9
Your state government: 82 -17
Your employer: 82 – 14
Government health agencies such as the CDC and NIH: 80 -17
Vice President Mike Pence: 61-32
President Donald Trump: 60 – 38
Congress: 59 – 37
The news media: 44 – 55
Of course, when broken down by political party, more Democrats (61%) than Republicans (25%) approved on the news media’s handling of the crisis.
Said Gallup:
About four in five Americans approve of the way their state government and government agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health are handling the coronavirus outbreak. Similarly, 83% of parents of children younger than 18 rate their children’s school or daycare positively for its handling of the situation. And 82% of U.S. workers rate their employer’s response positively.
Meanwhile, about six in 10 U.S. adults approve of the response by their elected leaders in Washington: President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and the U.S. Congress as a whole.
Trump’s 60% approval rating for his handling of the coronavirus is higher than his 49% overall job rating, meaning that a substantial percentage of Americans approve of his handling of the current health crisis while disapproving of his performance more generally.
