Amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump’s approval among the general public is tanking. Rasmussen Reports — which frequently has the most Trump-favorable numbers out of any major pollsters — has now reported the largest gap between those who strongly disapprove of the president and those who strongly approve since last November. Maintaining the overall approval of just 43 percent of respondents in the latest Rasmussen numbers, Trump’s overall approval rating also currently sits at its lowest point all year in the pollster’s data.
A full 56 percent of respondents said that they actively disapprove of the president in the latest numbers. Meanwhile, 44 percent of respondents said that they strongly disapprove of the president, and just 30 percent of respondents said that they strongly approve, giving strong disapproval a leading margin of a whopping 14 percent. These numbers don’t exactly bode well for Trump’s attempt to get re-elected later this year. On average, RealClearPolitics currently says that 50.8 percent of voters say that they disapprove of the president, while just 44.9 percent say that they approve of how Trump has been doing.
These numbers have emerged, of course, amidst the ongoing Coronavirus fallout. Trump has consistently been seen as bungling the U.S. government’s Coronavirus response; he’s politicized the issue and refused to take it seriously to the point of insisting recently that the horrors of the virus, which has claimed the lives of over 20,000 Americans and counting, “must be quickly forgotten” in the name of expediting a broad economic recovery from the upheaval stemming from attempts to stop the virus’s spread.
Just recently, he tweeted in a frenzy:
‘Once we OPEN UP OUR GREAT COUNTRY, and it will be sooner rather than later, the horror of the Invisible Enemy, except for those that sadly lost a family member or friend, must be quickly forgotten. Our Economy will BOOM, perhaps like never before!!!’
Once we OPEN UP OUR GREAT COUNTRY, and it will be sooner rather than later, the horror of the Invisible Enemy, except for those that sadly lost a family member or friend, must be quickly forgotten. Our Economy will BOOM, perhaps like never before!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2020
The president’s priorities, while deaths pile up among Americans across the country from New York to Michigan and beyond, rest with the economy. And voters appear to be listening — RealClearPolitics reports that only 46.6 percent of voters say that they approve of the president’s Coronavirus response, on average. A full 49 percent of voters say that they disapprove, on average.
Trump has frequently explicitly prioritized his public image amidst Coronavirus response efforts. In a recent tirade delivered in response to an editorial criticizing the spectacle of his daily Coronavirus response press briefings, he insisted:
‘The Wall Street Journal always “forgets” to mention that the ratings for the White House Press Briefings are “through the roof” (Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale, according to @nytimes) & is only way for me to escape the Fake News & get my views across. WSJ is Fake News!’
The Wall Street Journal always “forgets” to mention that the ratings for the White House Press Briefings are “through the roof” (Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale, according to @nytimes) & is only way for me to escape the Fake News & get my views across. WSJ is Fake News!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 9, 2020
The Wall Street Journal is not fake news. Trump is just prioritizing his television ratings and public image while Americans die. Former Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden currently leads Trump by an average of 5.9 percent in polls of their looming general election match-up. In one recent poll from CNN, Biden led by a whopping 11 percent margin nationally.
