New poll says 67% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of Coronavirus

Commentary

Which means 33% of Americans approve! WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!?!

MSNBC cited a new Ipsos poll on Trump’s Handling of the Coronavirus yesterday.

As the talking heads went on and on about the 67% disapproval rating, one thought, and one thought only, went through my head. Who in God’s name are the 33% of Americans who actually APPROVE OF HIS HANDLING OF THE CORONAVIRUS?

Seriously people, who are these people? How can anyone, let alone 33% of Americans think Donald Trump is doing a good job handling the coronavirus?

With the poll results in mind, let’s see what evidence there is that has convinced this 33% that Trump is handling this pandemic (abridged list, courtesy of Vox):

• January 21: The first confirmed Covid-19 case in the US is reported in Washington state.
• January 22: While at Davos, Trump makes his first public comment on the coronavirus, downplaying the risk in comments to CNBC and CBS News correspondent Paula Reid.
  • To CNBC: We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s — going to be just fine.
  • To CBS: We do have a plan and we think it’s going to be handled very well. We’ve already handled it very well … We’re in very good shape and I think China’s in very good shape also.
• January 24: Trump praises China’s “efforts and transparency” and thanks Chinese President Xi Jinping for his response to the virus.
• January 29: Trump receives a briefing on the coronavirus, and asserts that the US is “on top of it 24/7.”
• January 30: Trump suggests that the coronavirus is under control in remarks at a manufacturing plant in Michigan.
• February 7: Trump again praises Xi’s response to the coronavirus.
• February 24: In a tweet, Trump reiterates his claim that the virus is “very much under control in the USA.”
• February 27: Trump predicts that the coronavirus will disappear “like a miracle.”
  • “It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
• February 28: Trump refers to the coronavirus as the Democrats’ “new hoax” at a rally in South Carolina.
• March 6: At the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Trump says falsely that “anybody that wants a test can get a test”; he also comments that he would rather have infected people who were trapped on a cruise ship stay there to keep the number of confirmed US cases low.
• March 9: Trump compares the coronavirus to the common flu, a comparison which at that time had already been debunked by experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci.
• March 19: Trump incorrectly claims that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine for treating Covid-19.
• March 19: Trump labels the coronavirus the “Chinese Virus” in a press conference; photos show that he revised prepared remarks to add the xenophobic term.
• March 29: Trump extends CDC social distancing guidance through April 30; in the Rose Garden, he also says he believes his administration will have “done a very good job” if the US avoids the worst-case 2.2 million deaths predicted by London’s Imperial College.
• April 13: Trump claims to have the legal right to overrule governors’ shelter-in-place orders, asserting at a press conference that the president’s “authority is total.”
• April 14: Trump announces plans to halt funding to the WHO, accusing the organization of “severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”
• April 17: As small groups of — sometimes armed — protesters demonstrating against shelter-in-place orders begin to receive media coverage, Trump calls on his supporters, including those who attended these protests, to “liberate” Michigan, Minnesota, and Virginia, all of which have Democratic governors.
• April 23: Trump signs an executive order blocking green cards for most categories of prospective immigrants; at a daily press briefing, he also floats bleach as a potential coronavirus treatment.
• May 3: Trump again revises his estimate on the number of Covid-19 deaths the US will suffer and predicts 85,000 to 100,000 fatalities during a Fox News virtual town hall.
• May 8: Trump claims that the US is “the world leader” in responding to the coronavirus.
• May 9: Although many states have yet to meet the minimum requirements for reopening based on the White House’s guidelines, Trump continues to push for the reopening of nonessential businesses, using the slogan “TRANSITION TO GREATNESS!”
• May 11: Trump says that the US has “met the moment and we have prevailed” in responding to the coronavirus.
• May 18: Trump tells reporters that he is taking hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that has been linked to an increased risk of death when used to treat coronavirus patients.
• May 21: Trump claims, falsely that he was “so early. I was earlier than anybody thought” in response to a Columbia University study suggesting that 36,000 lives could have been saved in the US alone by implementing social distancing measures just a week earlier. As noted above, the president reportedly ignored security briefings on the coronavirus for weeks and did not roll out a social distancing campaign until mid-March.
• May 22: Trump at a press conference announces he is labeling churches as “essential” and calls for governors to allow their reopening, as well as threatening — without authority — to “override” any governors who fail to do so.
• May 26: Trump again favorably compares the death toll to an Imperial College projection that estimated the death toll had the US taken no steps to stop the spread of Covid-19, tweeting that “if I hadn’t done my job well, & early, we would have lost 1 1/2 to 2 Million People.”
• May 27: The U.S. hits 100,000 reported Covid-19 deaths.

And that’s only through the end of May. Of course since then, Trump no longer appears at Pence’s so-called “Coronavirus Task” briefings, has suggested that Dr. Fauci “has made a lot of mistakes,” and has demanded that the CDC revise it’s recommendations on school openings so it’s more to his liking. And, as of this writing, the U.S. death toll from Covid-19 stands at 136,911.

The answer to the evidence question is: Mr. and Mrs. 33%, there is none.

So, I ask again, how can anyone, let alone 33% of Americans think Donald Trump is doing a good job handling the coronavirus?

With all this in mind, as a public service, and in order to test the veracity of the Ispsos poll cited by MSNBC, I am announcing the first Around the Block Poll on Trump’s Handling of the Coronavirus.

To participate in this poll all you need to do is write “Approve” or “Disapprove” in the comments section of this post or send an email to tedblock@around-the-block.com with either the word “Approve” or “Disapprove.” Results will be tabulated by Around the Block’s accounting firm, Dewey, Cheatem and Howe, and published in a subsequent Around the Block post