A poll released Wednesday indicates that American approval of President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic is at an all-time low.
The Reuters/Ipsos survey, conducted between June 22 and 23, shows that 37% of those polled approve of Trump’s actions during the pandemic, while a slight majority of Americans — 58% — disapprove. This is the lowest level since the polling began in early March.
The survey was conducted online and polled 1,115 Americans, consisting of 503 Democrats and 408 Republicans. It has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points. (RELATED: New Poll Shows Trump Within 1 Point Of Biden In Michigan)
These polling results come just days after the president sparked controversy for suggesting COVID-19 testing in the United States should be slowed down.
“Testing is a double-edged sword,” Trump said at his campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “We’ve tested now 25 million people. It’s probably 20 million people more than anybody else.”
“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people. You’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please!'” Trump added.
TRUMP: “When you do testing…you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’”
In 20 states, the 7-day average of new cases has increased faster than the rate of testing.https://t.co/Z46D9ZfWaV pic.twitter.com/UHIFCdZhXp
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) June 21, 2020
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said during a Sunday CNN appearance following the Tulsa rally that the comments were “tongue-in-cheek” and not representative of the president’s actual position on testing.
While the White House said the comments were made in jest, Trump doubled down Tuesday when asked about the remark by reporters, saying “I don’t kid.”
As of Wednesday morning, the U.S. has reported 2,347,102 confirmed cases as well as 121,225 deaths from COVID-19, according to data collected by John Hopkins University.
The poll also found that the president trails presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden by 10 points nationally.