Approval for Trump’s handling of coronavirus drops 10 points: poll

President Trump’s approval rating for his handling of the coronavirus dropped 10 points from last month after an initial bump, according to a new Emerson College poll.

Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed approved of Trump’s efforts to tackle the outbreak, a drop from 49 percent last month.

The poll, released Tuesday, found that 51 percent said they disapproved of the president’s handling of the virus, a jump from 41 percent in March.

The president’s overall approval rating has ticked downward since last month, dropping from 46 percent to 41 percent.

The drops come after Trump’s overall approval rating leapt to new highs before dropping back down to the low- to mid-40s range it had consistently been stuck in since 2017.

The White House has been inundated with criticism from lawmakers in Washington and governors across the country who say states are still clamoring for the necessary personal protection equipment and testing kits needed to combat the virus.

But despite the approval rating drops, Trump’s handling of the coronavirus does not seem to be hindering his reelection campaign, according to the Emerson poll. Former Vice President Joe Biden maintains a 6-point lead in the general election (48 to 42 percent), the same differential from last month (53 to 47 percent). 

That might be explained in part by a yawning enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans, with 45 percent of Biden voters saying they are very or extremely excited to support Biden in the general election, while 64 percent of Trump backers said they were very or extremely excited to support Trump in November. 

“While Trump is struggling to handle the coronavirus epidemic, it appears Biden has his own image issues with voters and may need help from former President Obama on the campaign trail to try and transfer the positive image voters have of Obama to Biden,” said Spencer Kimball, director of Emerson College Polling.

The Emerson College poll of 1,200 Americans was conducted April 26 to April 28 and has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.