Trump's poll numbers dip over handling of coronavirus pandemic

Support for Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus has plunged over the past week, polls show, as some of his advisers and Republican allies are said to be concerned over the US president’s daily briefings on the pandemic.

Trump experienced an upturn in public support as the virus hit the US, and his job approval rating surged to almost the highest rating since he was elected. As concerns over the government’s response have grown, however, the number of people who believe the president is doing a good job appears to be settling back to pre-coronavirus levels.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week found approval of Trump’s handling of Covid-19 had dipped to 42%, down from 48% the week before. Trump’s overall approval rating was at 40%, close to where it has been for much of his presidency. According to a survey by CNN, 45% of Americans approve of Trump’s coronavirus response.

Perhaps more worrying for Trump are his dwindling numbers in a match-up against Joe Biden. CNN found that Biden leads Trump 53% to 42% among registered voters nationwide.

A number of Trump’s advisers and Republican allies are said to be among those unimpressed with his performance at his press briefings, which have become a daily ritual and often last several hours. Axios and the New York Times reported that a series of senior figures have become dismayed at the briefings, which Trump has used to propagate lies and disinformation about his response to the pandemic.

“White House allies and Republican lawmakers increasingly believe the briefings are hurting the president more than helping him,” the Times reported.

Even the Trump loyalist Lindsey Graham is among those who wants Trump to rein in his briefings, which frequently run on for more than an hour and regularly feature an upset president lashing out at the press.

Graham told the New York Times that Trump “sometimes drowns out his own message”, and said he had counseled the president to limit the briefings to once a week. Axios reported that Republicans are worried the rambling performances, along with the White House’s wider response to the coronavirus, could harm Trump’s re-election chances.

“The next 4-8 weeks is really going to decide whether Trump gets re-elected,” Stephen Moore, a former Trump nominee for Federal Reserve, told Axios.

The normally forgiving editorial board of the conservative Wall Street Journal has also come out against Trump’s daily presentations.

“The briefings began as a good idea to educate the public about the dangers of the virus, how Americans should change their behavior, and what the government is doing to combat it,” the Journal wrote. “But sometime in the last three weeks Mr Trump seems to have concluded that the briefings could be a showcase for him.”

Despite the pleas, it seems unlikely that Trump, who is increasingly using the briefings to push out the kind of messaging usually reserved for his campaign rallies, will put a halt to them any time soon.

“Any suggestion that President Trump is struggling on tone or message is completely false,” the White House spokesman Judd Deere told the New York Times.