A new poll from Rasmussen Reports on the coronavirus has good news for the White House and bad news for the media.
It found 46% of likely U.S. voters say the federal government’s response is good or excellent.
But 3 of 5 Republicans believe “the media and some politicians are playing up the threat of the coronavirus to hurt President Trump.”
The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted March 3-4, 2020.
It found only 30% say the government is doing a poor job.
“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%,” Rasmussen said.
The Ebola outbreak took place during the Barack Obama administration.
“But a closer look at the latest findings shows that while 70% of Republicans give the government positive marks for its response to date, just 31% of Democrats and 35% of voters not affiliated with either major party agree.”
Two of three Democrats and half of unaffiliated voters believe the coronavirus is a major health threat, but three of five Republicans believe “that the media and some politicians are playing up the threat of coronavirus to hurt President Trump.”
Overall, one in three voters believes the media are “playing it up” to hurt the president they oppose.
“Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters agree with the Federal Reserve Board’s decision to cut interest rates in response to the potential economic threat of the coronavirus. Only 24% disagree with the Fed’s action, but slightly more (27%) are undecided about it,” the report said.
Only 23% of the voters who think it’s a major health threat rate the government’s response as good or excellent. Among those who believe it’s being played up for political reasons, 79% give the government positive marks for its actions.
Nearly 3 of 4 say the American health system will be able to handle the issue.
Paul Bedard, in his Washington Secrets column in the Washington Examiner, pointed out the good news for the White House.
“Over the past week, the administration has won applause for its efforts, and [Vice President] Pence’s calming influence has helped to steer attention to the effort to stop the spread of the virus.”