A growing percentage of Americans are dissatisfied with the federal government’s coronavirus response, a new poll from CNN concludes.
Of the 1,022 respondents polled by CNN between April 3-6, 55 percent think the government has done a “poor job” in stopping the spread of coronavirus, up 8 points since the previous poll in March.
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 07: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters following a meeting of the coronavirus task force in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on April 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. The president today removed the independent chairman of a committee tasked with overseeing the roll out of the $2 trillion coronavirus bailout package. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Participants also feel stronger about President Donald Trump’s response to the virus on both sides of the issue. His approval ratings, 45 percent, and disapproval, 52 percent, both were 4 points higher than the March figures. His overall approval rating also slightly improved, with 42 percent responding positively (+4) and 52 percent negatively (-1).
A majority think Trump could be doing more to fight the virus, while 43 percent think he is doing enough. Sixty-nine percent think the federal government overall should be doing more to fight the pandemic. (RELATED: Trump Hires White House Lawyer To Be New ‘Pandemic Response’ Inspector General)
There appears to be a disparity between people’s understanding of the social distancing guidelines issued by the White House task force and local authorities, and the grades they give their neighbors in following them. Seventy-seven percent said they understand “very well” what is and isn’t permitted under the guidelines, yet only 28 think their neighbors are following them “very well.”
The information comes as Trump and the multiple White House task force members told the nation that the week of April 5 could be very bad, with some saying it could a “Pearl Harbor” or “9/11” type-event, at least in terms of deaths from the virus. The president did, however, tell reporters that he could see a “light at the end of the tunnel” at Sunday’s press briefing.
Additionally, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield said during a Monday interview that because of Americans’ adherence to the social distancing guidelines he now thinks the total coronavirus deaths will eventually fall short of the predictions of the task force’s models.
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“Those models that were done, they assumed that only about 50 percent of the American public would pay attention to the recommendations,” Redfield said of the original projected range from of 100,000-240,000 deaths. “In fact, it would seem, a large majority of the American public are taking the social distancing recommendations to heart.”
Earlier this week, researchers at the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, who produce one of the primary models utilized by the White House, lowered their estimates of roughly 94,000 deaths to 82,000. The new data showed a 14 percent decrease in the model’s previous projections and a 30 percent decrease from the worst-case scenario.