Nearly half of all Americans say US President Donald Trump is doing an excellent or good job handling the spread of the novel coronavirus, despite cases throughout the US spiking past 100,000, according to a report by Pew Research Center.
Moreover, Trump’s overall job rating is higher than it has been since his first few months in office, the Pew survey showed.
The survey was taken between March 19-24 among 11,537 American adults using the center’s American Trends Panel.
In total, some 48% say Trump is doing an excellent or good job responding to the outbreak. An overwhelming majority of Republicans (83%) express positive views on Trump’s handling of the virus, compared to just 18% of Democrats.
Some 45% of Americans approve of the way that Trump is handling his job as president, up from a similar survey in January 2020 when only 40% approved of his performance, Pew reported. This increase in approval is among several minority groups: women - 37% in January to 44% today; African Americans - 8% to 18%; and Hispanics - 27% to 37%.
The Pew survey also found that Americans are beginning to better understand the gravity of the coronavirus crisis. Two-thirds of Americans now say that the outbreak is a “significant crisis” and just as many say the virus’ spread will cause a recession or depression in the United States.
Similarly, there is a 19% increase in the number of Americans who believe that the coronavirus poses a major threat to the health of the US population (66% today versus a similar survey released two weeks ago). Also, 88% of Americans say the virus poses a major threat to the American economy, up from 70% in mid-March.
The latest reports show that more than 1,500 people have died from coronavirus in the United States. The states with the highest numbers of cases are New York and Washington, though other states are seeing a rapid spike in infected people, as well.