The support President Trump has received over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic has taken a dip over the past week, as sources say his advisors and allies are growing concerned over his daily briefings on the matter.
He experienced a huge surge when the virus first hit, showing his highest approval ratings since he was first elected. But, as concerns over how the government has handled the situation have grown, those numbers are falling fast. A Reuters/Ipsos survey show approval of Trump’s handling of Covid-19 had dipped to 42%, down from 48% the week before. Trump’s overall approval rating was at 40%.According to a survey by CNN, 45% of Americans approve of Trump’s response to the pandemic.
But most troubling for him, is his dwindling support in numbers against Joe Biden, the Democratic nomination who will be his chief opponent in getting re-elected this year.
A number of his officials and allies are said to be among those who are unimpressed with the president’s daily briefings, which can last for hours. They are dismayed at the president using the time to propagate lies and misinformation about how he’s handled the situation.
Even Lindsay Graham, a stout loyalist to Trump, is among his critics, saying he believes the president needs to reel his briefings in, and that he drowns out his own messages during them.
Stephen Moore, a former Trump nominee for Federal Reserve, says that: “The next 4-8 weeks is really going to decide whether Trump gets re-elected.”
Even the widely-forgiving, conservative Wall Street Journal is coming out against the president:
“The briefings began as a good idea to educate the public about the dangers of the virus, how Americans should change their behavior, and what the government is doing to combat it. But sometime in the last three weeks Mr Trump seems to have concluded that the briefings could be a showcase for him.”
However, it doesn’t look like Trump is likely to stop using these briefings as a time to use the kind of rhetoric usually reserved for his rallies, and we will see what kind of effect that has on his re-election chances.
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