A national opinion poll conducted by the Gallup polling firm between March 13 and 22 found 49 percent overall approval for President Donald Trump’s job performance and 60 percent approval for his administration’s handling of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
The polling firm published a summary of its polling results Tuesday, which found Trump saw 60 percent approval for his response to the coronavirus, against 38 percent who disapproved.
The polling period for the latest Gallup poll began the same day Trump declared a national emergency on coronavirus and announced various public-private partnerships between the government and various U.S. companies, to approve and expand coronavirus tests and to produce medical equipment. Trump saw criticisms earlier on in his coronavirus response over an initial lack of available testing kits.
During his national emergency address, private companies also discussed rolling out efforts to assist in testing, including opening up parking lots at storefronts to accommodate drive-through testing efforts.
On March 16 the Trump administration implemented a 15-day guidance calling on people to limit social interactions, work from home and limit travel. On Sunday, Trump indicated support for ending those social distancing limits after reaching the end of the 15-day period on March 31.
WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2020
The administration has taken other measures to alleviate economic concerns from coronavirus, including delaying U.S. tax filing deadlines to July 15 and pausing interest payments on federally held student loans.
Trump also recently announced support for some existing drugs seen as potential therapeutics and treatments for coronavirus, such as chloroquine and remdesivir. He said the FDA was working to rapidly review the potential treatments and potentially approve them for broad use in treating coronavirus patients. He also said the FDA was granting waivers for patients in extreme circumstances to use those drugs.
Gallup suggested the overall high approval on Trump’s coronavirus response may have been a factor in boosting his overall presidential job performance numbers to tie his overall presidential high of 49 percent. Over the same polling period from March 13 to 22, support for Trump’s overall job performance among Republicans went up one point while support from Independents and Democrats went up eight points and six points respectively.
The polling on Trump’s overall job performance rose five points, from 44 percent earlier in March.
Trump last saw his job performance numbers at 49 percent in late January and early February during his impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate, when senators ultimately voted to acquit him.
