Poll: More Americans Impressed By Media Coverage Of Outbreak Than Trump’s Response

President Donald Trump takes questions during a news conference on the COVID-19 outbreak at the White House on February 26, 2020. (Photo by ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images)
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President Donald Trump likes to bash the media’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic ad nauseum, but a new Pew poll shows a majority of America isn’t buying what he’s selling.

According to the poll, 54 percent of Americans believe the media has been doing a “good” or “excellent” job with its response to the outbreak.

Trump’s response rating falls six points below that figure in the same poll, with 48 percent of Americans saying that they believe the President’s handling of the coronavirus was “good” or “excellent.”

The poll surveyed 11,537 American adults from March 19 through 24, and has a margin of error of +/- 1.5 percent.

Trump and his allies frequently spin his flailing response to the outbreak as an anti-Trump media conspiracy. The President often attacks the reporters attending his daily White House briefings on COVID-19, and right-wing media figures have participated in his efforts to delegitimize the mainstream media.

In an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday, Attorney General Bill Barr accused the media of being on “a jihad” to “discredit” hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that Trump claims to be effective against the coronavirus even though no hard data proves it.

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Notable Replies

  1. 48%? I’m guessing the lower half of the IQ curve?

  2. At some point, the media need to start calling Trump’s lies lies. Lies are not statements. Lies are not claims. Lies are Lies.

    If the media were doing a good job of providing information regarding the virus, 48% of Americans would not think Trump was doing a good job.

  3. Excellent point. I was going to ask who these people are, but you nailed it.

  4. Avatar for tsp tsp says:

    Thank you, TPM!!!

  5. Trump’s response rating falls six points below that figure in the same poll, with 48 percent of Americans saying that they believe the President’s handling of the coronavirus was “good” or “excellent.”

    48 percent still seems like it’s way too high. How can 48 percent of the country look at this shit-show and say, “attaboy, Donny!”?

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