Two-Thirds Of Americans Disapprove Of Trump’s Handling Of Coronavirus & Race Relations, Poll Finds

Two out of three Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump‘s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as some states in the South and West reported surges in cases and have slowed down or reversed reopening plans.

An ABC News/Ipsos poll released Friday found that 67% of respondents disapprove of “the way Donald Trump is handling the response to the coronavirus,” and only 33 percent approve — marking the worst recorded numbers since ABC News and Ipsos began surveying on the pandemic in March.

The U.S. has had 3.2 million COVID-19 cases and over 136,000 deaths. While other countries that were originally hot spots, like Italy, have resumed relative normalcy, the U.S. has continued to struggle in managing the outbreak, with Trump largely leaving the issue up to governors to handle.

He has continued to downplay the severity of the pandemic, falsely claiming last week that 99% of coronavirus cases are “harmless.”

The majority of respondents (59%) said they felt the U.S. was reopening too quickly from the coronavirus shutdowns and restrictions. Twenty-six percent said reopening was happening “at about the right pace,” while 15% said it was occurring too slowly.

The poll also found that the same percentage of respondents (67%) disapproved of the president’s handling of race relations in the wake of nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism. Only 32% said they approved.

Trump threatened to deploy U.S. troops on American soil to quell the protests and has recently voiced support of preserving the Confederate flag and monuments honoring historically racist individuals.

Among those polled, seeing the Confederate flag elicited a “positive” reaction in only 5%. Several (43%) reported feeling a negative reaction, while most (52%) said they feel indifferent, or “neither” when they see the flag displayed.

The poll was conducted July 8-9 and sampled 711 adults. It has a margin of error of +/-4.1%.