Donald Trump’s approval ratio has reached the maximum of his presidency in crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic. The percentage of support among Americans has risen five points from the measurement in early March, to 49%, the same level it achieved in late January, when his acquittal was imminent in the third impeachment in the history of the United States. The rebound is mainly due to an increase in support from Democrats (+13) and independents (+8). Asked how they evaluate the Republican’s reaction to the outbreak, 60% approve and 38% reject it.
The Gallup Poll’s record shows that major events – positive or negative – tend to favor presidential support, fueled by the opposition. Former President Barack Obama’s approval rating rose seven points after US forces killed Osama bin Laden, and George W. Bush’s climbed 35 points after the 9/11 attack. The biggest leaps in the Trump Administration occurred when he lifted the longest government shutdown in US history in January 2019 and after it became known that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller found no conspiracy evidence between the New York magnate and Russia during the campaign of 2016.
Trump has come under fire for having played down the virus for weeks and argued that the United States “had it under control.” However, the restrictive measures adopted by the White House have progressively increased since the middle of the month to stop the spread – although it continues to increase. On March 16, the president changed his tone and acknowledged the seriousness of the situation, calling for avoiding meetings of more than 10 people and for workers and students to stay at home. Since then, he has led practically daily press conferences, accompanied by health experts, to inform citizens and answer questions.
The economic and social debacle of this pandemic is a problem in the year that Trump faces his reelection, but it also gives him the opportunity to establish himself as “president in times of war” around which one must close ranks. The Republican president participates in all the daily press conferences on the Covid-19 crisis, which usually last over an hour and have come close to brushing both.
The confinement to which a large part of the population has been forced has disrupted la democratic electoral campaign, which is currently frozen. Both former Vice President Joe Biden, the favorite to win the Democratic nomination, and his opponent, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, suspended all public events a couple of weeks ago and have their campaign teams working remotely.
Biden set up a television studio at his Wilmington, Delaware home, but even though he has given several interviews from there, his messages have often been cut to make way for the virus contingency. “We are in a strange moment,” Sanders acknowledged to his followers via online. Several states have deferred holding primaries scheduled for March and April to June 2. The Democratic National Committee plans to hold a debate next month, but has yet to release any details, which are often released well in advance. The Sanders team has already said that if it is carried out, he will participate, which clears doubts about a possible abandonment of the race, when, in a second position, he has more than 300 delegates away from Biden.
Information about the coronavirus
–Here you can follow the last hour on the evolution of the pandemic.
– The coronavirus map: how cases grow day by day and country by country.
– Coronavirus questions and answers.
– Guide to action against the disease.
– If you have symptoms, these are the phones that have been enabled in every country in Latin America.
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