Evangelicals approve of Trump’s handling of coronavirus

Nearly 70 percent of white evangelicals approve of the way President Donald Trump is handling the coronavirus outbreak, according to a HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted last weekend. By contrast, 45 percent of Americans overall approve of his performance.

The president gets much better marks than the national media. Just 30 percent of all Americans believe the media has “gotten it right” in a Pew poll.

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Seventy percent of white evangelicals also approve of the way the U.S. government is managing the outbreak. Only 47 percent of all respondents surveyed said the same. White evangelicals are on the same page as all Americans about the need to cancel large events such as conferences or political rallies due to the coronavirus. Seventy percent of white evangelicals said these cancellations were the right decision, which is about the same percentage as all respondents.

Thank you President @realDonaldTrump. #NationalDayofPrayer https://t.co/Oyb7G3Z7D5

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) March 15, 2020

In other findings concerning evangelicals and others on coronavirus

• A 61 percent majority of white evangelicals said the U.S. government has a responsibility to provide free coronavirus testing for any American who might have the virus ― that’s 11 percentage points lower than the public as a whole.
• Roughly half (48 percent) of white evangelicals said the government has a responsibility to provide free medical treatment for confirmed cases, 14 points lower than the result among all Americans.
• White evangelicals’ views on these two questions aligned quite closely to those of Republican respondents.
• Republicans are about 18 points likelier than white evangelicals to say they approve of Trump’s handling of the outbreak.
• Republicans are also more likely than white evangelicals to say that they are at least somewhat confident that the U.S. government’s statements about the coronavirus are reliable and accurate (82 percent vs. 67 percent). About 46 percent of all respondents said they’re confident that the government’s statements about the virus are reliable and accurate, while 41 percent said they’re not very or not at all confident.

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice