Dr. Anthony Fauci got the highest approval rating for his handling of the coronavirus response while governors came in second, President Trump third and Congress dead last a new poll said Wednesday.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the top doctor on the administration’s Coronavirus Task Force, won the approval of 78 percent of Americans while just 7 percent disapproved, the Quinnipiac national survey showed.
“Your state’s governor,” a generic term included in the survey, got a 74 percent approval rating with 17 percent disapproving.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has won plaudits for his handling of the coverage and sober daily briefings, fell a bit below that average, with 59 percent approving and 17 percent disapproving.
Both Trump and Congress were below 50 percent, with 46 percent approving of the president’s handling of the spreading pandemic and 51 percent disapproving, and 44 percent approving of Congress’ performance and 46 percent disapproving.
“In a country gripped by crisis and divided by partisanship, public opinion is united when it comes to Dr. Anthony Fauci. Nearly eight in 10 voters give him a resounding thumbs up for the job he’s doing responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s not the case for President Trump. More voters disapprove of his response than approve. Separately, they say he hasn’t acted aggressively enough in his response,” said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Mary Snow.
Fifty-five percent of registered voters said that Trump had not acted aggressively enough, while 41 percent said his response had been about right and 2 percent saying he’s been too aggressive.
A plurality of voters gives the president a failing grade on the way he has communicated information about the coronavirus to the American people: with 25 percent giving Trump an A; 17 percent a B; 14 percent a C; 12 a D and 31 percent giving him an F.
But Trump also got his highest job approval rating since taking office, as 45 percent approved of the job he was doing as president, while 51 percent disapproved.
One month ago, 41 percent approved, while 54 percent disapproved.
More than eight out of 10 registered voters, 85 percent, say they are either very or somewhat concerned they or someone they know will be infected with the coronavirus, a spike of 31 percentage points from early March.
President Trump gestures during a White House press briefing on coronavirus.[/caption]
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“While overall concerns about coronavirus infections have jumped dramatically in the past month, the level of concern depends on political party. Democrats lead the way in being ‘very concerned,’ almost twice the number of Republicans. Independents are in the middle,” added Snow.
Seven out of 10 voters, 70 percent, said that the coronavirus crisis in the US was getting worse, while 20 percent said it was staying the same and only 8 percent saying it was getting better.
While most states have issued their own stay-at-home orders, 81 percent of voters say they would support a stay-at-home order on a national level, a move the president has avoided.
Voters also say by 59 to 35 percent that the federal government should be doing more to address the needs of New York City, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the US.
Quinnipiac polled 2,077 registered nationwide from April 2-6, and the poll had a margin of error of +/- 2.2 percentage points.
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