More than half of government employees say the media and hostile politicians are “playing up the threat of the cornonavirus to hurt President Trump,” a new national Rasmussen poll reveals.
Fully 51% of government workers say media and politicians are sensationalizing the coronavirus to hurt Trump, compared to 35% of all U.S. likely voters.
Likewise, government workers are less likely to view the coronavirus as “a major health threat” to the nation (41%) than are all U.S. likely voters (49%).
Which is closer to your opinion? (Government Employees)
- The coronavirus is a major health threat to the United States: 41%
- The media and some politicians are playing up the threat of the coronavirus to hurt President Trump: 51%
- Neither: 9%
- Not Sure: 0%
Which is closer to your opinion? (All Respondents)
- The coronavirus is a major health threat to the United States: 49%
- The media and some politicians are playing up the threat of the coronavirus to hurt President Trump: 35%
- Neither: 11%
- Not Sure: 5%
Government employees also rate the Trump Administration’s response to the coronavirus higher than do all U.S. voters, taken as a whole. More than a third (35%) rate the federal government’s response “Excellent,” compared to about a quarter (24%) of all respondents.
How would you rate the federal government's response to the coronavirus so far? (Government Employees)
- Excellent: 35%
- Good: 14%
- Fair: 22%
- Poor: 24%
- Not Sure: 4%
How would you rate the federal government's response to the coronavirus so far? (All Respondents)
- Excellent: 24%
- Good: 22%
- Fair: 21%
- Poor: 30%
- Not Sure: 4%
Indeed, with 46% rating the response either “Excellent” or “Good,” Americans rate Trump’s response to the coronavirus better than they rated President Barack Obama’s response to the Ebola virus, Rasmussen reports:
“By comparison, 40% of Americans gave the government’s response to Ebola good or excellent marks in October 2014 after the first case was diagnosed in this country. Less than three weeks later, that number had fallen to 31%.”
Last month, Rasmussen released results of a survey showing that Americans believe the media are exaggerating the coronavirus threat, just as do the threat of other diseases and disasters:
“As has been the case with other diseases and natural disasters, Americans think the media has been overselling coronavirus. A plurality (47%) says the media tends to make the outbreak of diseases like coronavirus sound worse than they really are. Thirty-five percent (35%) disagree, but another 18% are not sure.”
The national survey of 1,000 U.S. likely voters, conducted March 3-4, 2020. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.