Fewer people trust President Trump on coronavirus than have faith in Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; former Vice President Joe Biden; former Democratic Presidential nominee Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.); New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) or Vice President Pence, a new Hill-HarrisX poll finds.
Sixty-three percent of voters trust Fauci, the most of any official surveyed.
Biden and Sanders follow behind at 53 percent and 52 percent, respectively.
Fifty-one percent of voters say the trust Cuomo and 47 percent trust Pence on the issue.
Forty-four percent of voters say the trust President Trump when it comes to coronavirus information while 52 percent say they do not trust the President’s knowledge of the pandemic.
White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx and Surgeon General Jerome Adams were the only officials less trusted than Trump, with 38 percent and 26 percent.
“The number of people who trust President Trump on coronavirus is pretty close to his overall approval rating,” Chris Jackson, Vice President of Ipsos, told Hill.TV.
“It’s very much a reflection, I think, of politics and partisanship,” he added.
Emily Ekins, Director of Polling and research fellow at the Cato Institute, noted the partisan differences when looking at which voters trust Trump on COVID-19.
“Even 20 percent of Republicans say they don’t trust President Trump to give them reliable information,” Ekins told Hill.TV.
The April 19-20 survey found that while 77 percent of Republican voters said they trust the President, 20 percent said they do not trust him when it comes to information about the coronavirus.
After scaling back the coronavirus task force briefings, the White House is reportedly beginning to shift its messaging on the pandemic, amid growing concern from GOP leaders that Trump’s remarks during the briefings are hurting his reelection chances.
The Hill-HarrisX poll was conducted online among 958 registered voters between April 19 and 20. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.17 percentage points.
—Gabriela Schulte
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