Donald Trump pulled out all of his old bells and whistles for the 2020 presidential race against former Vice President Joe Biden. The problem is that the world has shifted dramatically since 2016. It has been Trumped, and people do not like what that means, according to the new Dallas Morning News/UT Tyler Poll.
Voters were not especially thrilled with the president from the beginning. After all, he lost the popular vote by three million votes and narrowly picked up the states that could hand him the antiquated Electoral College votes. Certainly, that is a good enough reason to do away with the outdated system.
Trump’s biggest problem is that he has no empathy, and he is cruel. Those who advised him managed to do serious damage to these United States, but they shared these two weaknesses and underestimated the American people.
The country did its part. People shut down to prevent the coronavirus pandemic from spreading across those “purple mountains majesty, amber waves of grain, above the fruited plains…from shore to shining shore,” as Ray Charles sings America the Beautiful on YouTube. What did Trump do? Did he set up manufacturing plants to provide test kits, protective items for nurses and doctors, and ventilators? No, he went golfing.
Of course, POTUS claims golfing keeps him from becoming a workaholic and is his exercise. Riding in that golf cart must really be hard.
Now, even Texas has decided to dump Trump for screwing up the coronavirus pandemic. The Dallas Morning News/UT Tyler Poll has some very bad news for Trump.
Biden has a five-point lead over the commander-in-chief, 46 percent to 41 percent as Texans display their dislike of the man who screwed up the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, the two men were tied, 43 to 43 percent. This reflects the growing support of Independents and “weak partisans” distancing from the president.
If the opinions hold until November, the state will go for its first Democratic president since it elected President Jimmy Carter in 1976. Kenneth Bryant Jr., the UT-Tyler political scientist who designed the poll said:
‘While President Trump has and still enjoys near universal (sic) approval from Republicans, and overwhelming disfavor from Democrats, he has lost considerable ground among the folks in the middle, who may ultimately decide who wins Texas in November.’
The new poll showed that the pandemic and exploding job numbers were at the root of Texans’ change. A full 82 percent of the interviewees had worn a mask in the past seven days. Not everyone was thrilled with doing so. Funeral home owner Jay Carnes supports Trump and said:
‘I’m wearing a mask only because I have to, not because I want to. These people are just so nasty and mean who see it as a cure-all, they’re just so scared,” he said of mask-law proponents, Personally, put me in a room with people that have it. Let me get it, move on, if that means I can move on with my life. The mortality rate is pretty darned low.’
Texans support a second stay-at-home order by a margin of 66 percent to 19 percent if necessary:
‘By 66% to 19%, Texans support another stay-at-home order if infections and hospitalizations do not decline. More than one-third, 36%, though, said the threat of the virus had been blown out of proportion. Some 56% agreed with the statement that China is responsible for the coronavirus pandemic, and just 18% disagreed. In April, Texans agreed that China was responsible, 61% to 16%.’
When it came to a vaccine that could prevent the coronavirus, Texans were either likely or very likely to get one 67 percent to 16 percent:
‘As for a vaccine for COVID-19, Texans, by 67% to 16%, said that if one were available they would be likely or very likely to take it. That was down from April, though, when 76% said they would be likely or very likely to take it and just 10% said they would be unlikely or very unlikely to do so.’
Mother of three and Biden supporter Becky Maner, 43, thought that some Texans were “just stupid” for not wanting to wear masks and get vaccinated:
‘As early as we can get the vaccine, we will get it. People who don’t like wearing a mask should jump at a vaccine as “the next answer. I don’t know when we got so wrapped up in conspiracy theories and that people are out to harm us by vaccines. I just don’t get it.’
UT-Tyler political scientist Mark Owens managed the survey. He indicated that the questions added to the June 29 through July 7 polls showed “growing unease with state and federal leaders” management of the pandemic.
The drag on Trump’s and Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s approval ratings was striking:
‘While in April Texans were evenly divided in their appraisals of the president’s overall job performance, in the new poll, 42% approved of the job he was doing, while 50% disapproved. On COVID-19, just 38% of state residents were pleased with Trump’s performance, with a majority (52%) disapproving. In April, 43% approved and 44% disapproved.’
Top virologist in the country Dr. AnthonyFauci and the White House coronavirus task force were cited by 51% of Democrats as the reason. Only 38% of Republicans cited Fauci and the task force as their motivators.
The density of the community also made a difference. In metro areas, the main reason people wore masks was that businesses required it. In rural areas, the reason was local leaders, and in the suburbs Dr. Fauci and the White House task force motivated them.
The Dallas Morning News/UT Tyler Poll consisted of 129 phone interviews and 1,780 online polls takers all selected randomly among registered voters within Texas. Both aspects of the poll were conducted in both Spanish and English. The margin of error was 2.24 +/-percentage points, which is extremely good. A full 898 registered voters who indicated they voted Democratic during the primary had a margin of error of 3.27 +/- percentage points, which is still good.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
