More Americans approve of how President Donald Trump is handling the novel coronavirus pandemic than how the media has dealt with it, according to a Monmouth University poll published Monday.
Fifty percent of Americans think Trump is doing a good job handling the virus and 45% believe he is doing poorly, according to the poll. Comparatively, 45% of Americans approve of how the media is handling the outbreak and 43% disapprove. (RELATED: Media Credits Mike Pence Over His Coronavirus Response)
more people approve of trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak than the media’s https://t.co/vjOixvY7s0
— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) March 23, 2020
Some Americans feel that the media has fueled to reports of coronavirus panic, according to a previous article from the Washington Times. Public health and infectious disease experts have urged the public to take the virus seriously, but not overreact.
These experts have credited the media, in part, for pushing rhetoric that could actually be harmful amid the novel coronavirus spread, the Washington Times reported.
Trump also garnered his highest approval ratings dating back to March 2017 and lowest disapproval ratings since June 2018, the poll reported. Forty-fix percent of Americans approve of how Trump is doing as president and 48% disapprove as of March 2020.
Governors received praise for their handling of the novel coronavirus, with 72% of Americans voicing their approval, the poll found. Many governors around the country have issued strict orders as they try to contain the outbreak. These have included shutting down non-essential businesses and even mandating “stay at home” advisories to promote social distancing.
The Monmouth University poll was conducted from March 18 to March 22 and has a margin of error of +/1 3.4 points. The poll was conducted using telephone interviews with 851 adults in America.