WSJ/NBC Poll: Trump Approval Unchanged in Coronavirus Outbreak

A new poll by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News finds that approval of President Donald Trump remains unchanged since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, though only 48% have confidence in him to manage it.

The Journal reported Sunday morning:

The survey of 900 registered voters found little sign that a crisis with potential to define the 2020 election has altered the political standing of President Trump. Some 51% disapprove of how he is handling the virus outbreak, while 45% approve. That is nearly identical to his overall job-approval rating, which is essentially unchanged from last month and from much of his tenure as president.

Republicans and Democrats hold nearly inverse views on his emergency response, with 81% of GOP voters saying he has done well and 84% of Democrats saying the opposite. Among independents, 43% approve and 52% disapprove.

…

Fewer people in the survey said they had confidence in Mr. Trump to handle the crisis than they did in various levels of government. Less than half—48%—said they had a fair amount or great deal of confidence in the president. By comparison, 62% had confidence in the federal government, 72% in local government and 75% in their state government.

The outbreak has taken governments around the world by surprise, and even those that have responded aggressively have been forced to re-adjust over time.

On Saturday night, for example, Israel announced a ban on gatherings larger than ten people (ten is the minimum required for a prayer quorum in the Jewish faith). The Israeli government will also follow South Korea’s example in using private cellphone data to track those exposed to the virus.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.