Trump Support Falters After Coronavirus, Police Protest Response
In a recent poll conducted by The New York Times/Siena College, reaching 1,337 registered voters from June 17 to June 22, results indicated a sharp decline in support for President Donald Trump and a corresponding rise in support for democratic nominee Joe Biden. Of those who responded to the poll, 50 percent of registered voters said that, as of now, they would vote for Biden, while 36 percent said they would vote for Trump and 14 percent said that they wouldn't vote, were undecided, or would vote for a third candidate.
This comes on the heels of President Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has been received poorly, and his response to the protests after the death of George Floyd, which was received even worse. Respectively, 58 percent of those polled said that they disapproved on the former response and 62 percent they disapproved of the latter response.
President Trump's response to the pandemic didn't start in earnest until March, when he declared a national emergency and closed the borders to both Canada and Mexico. In the same month, he signed a $2.2 trillion relief package to be divided between citizens, hospitals, and companies. He also propped up the drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential cure to the virus days before the number of reported deaths in the U.S. hit 1,000. By the end of May, that number had hit 100,000.
His response to the protests after Floyd's death have had less time to develop. Many moments of his response were widely panned. He signed an executive order regarding police reform earlier this month, which was met with mixed reviews. No parts of his response were met with wide approval.
Of similar questions, responders only gave a positive response regarding Trump's handling of the economy: 50 percent approved while 45 percent disapproved. 53 percent said they disapproved of his handling of criminal justice, while 61 percent said they disapproved of his handling of race relations.
Overall, 47 percent of responders said that they strongly disapproved of President Trump's performance overall. 50 percent said they had a 'very unfavorable' impression of Trump personally.
Biden, conversely, didn't draw strong responses from poll responders. In terms of personal popularity, only 27 percent of responders indicated that they found the nominee very unfavorable. The 'very favorable' and 'favorable' options finished marginally behind, each garnering 26 percent of the total responses.