Views of Trump’s handling of COVID at all-time low

Washington DC, July 10, 2020

According to the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll, just one in three Americans approve of the way President Donald Trump is handling the response to COVID-19. This not only represents the lowest approval rating since the question was asked in March, but also an 8-point drop from mid-June. Moreover, a majority of Americans feel the U.S. is reopening the economy too quickly, though there are significant partisan differences.

Detailed findings:

1. Thirty-three percent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the response to the coronavirus, down from 41% three weeks ago. This is Trump’s lowest approval rating on the issue to date.

• Seventy-eight percent of Republicans approve of the president’s handling of the COVID-19 response, compared to 26% of Independents and just 7% of Democrats.

2. Fifty-nine percent of Americans believe the U.S. is re-opening the economy too quickly, more than double the number that believe it is happening at the right pace (26%).

• Views are similar to two weeks ago, when 56% said the reopening was happening too quickly.
• There is a nearly 60 percentage point difference between Democrats (84%) and Republicans (26%) on whether we are re-opening too quickly.

3. President Trump’s approval on race relations is equal to that of his handling of COVID-19 (32%).

• While many more Americans have a negative reaction than positive (43% vs. 5%, respectively) to seeing the Confederate flag displayed, most (52%) have neither a negative nor positive reaction.
• Majorities of white (58%) and Hispanic (54%) Americans have neither reaction to seeing the Confederate flag displayed, while three-quarters of Black Americans (76%) report having a negative reaction.  

About the Study

This ABC News/Ipsos Poll was conducted July 8 to July 9, 2020 by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 711 general population adults age 18 or older.

The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult US population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the US. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population.

The study was conducted in both English and Spanish. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race, education, Census region, metropolitan status, household income, and party identification. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2019 March supplement of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS). Party ID benchmarks are from recent ABC News/Washington Post telephone polls. The weighting categories were as follows:

• Gender (Male/Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45–59, and 60+)
• Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White/Non-Hispanic, Black/Non-Hispanic, Other or 2+ Races/Non-Hispanic, Hispanic)
• Education (Less than High School, High School graduate, Some College, Bachelor and beyond)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
• Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
• Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
• Party ID (Democrat, Republican, Independent, Other/None)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.23. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

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