Poll Shows African Americans Have Little Faith In Trump’s Handling Of Coronavirus Crisis
A poll commissioned by the NAACP shows that African Americans hold an unfavorable opinion of how Donald Trump has handled the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the survey, conducted by the African American Research Collaborative, 80 percent of the national sample of African Americans rated Trump’s performance negatively while 19 percent have a positive view. About 59 percent viewed the federal government’s overall response positively.
But Black people viewed their local governments in a better light. About 62 percent of those surveyed said their state’s governors were handling the crisis well, while 63 percent approved of their mayors’ handling of the pandemic.
Viewpoints of how these governors have done differed by region. In the Northeast, where states like New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are located and where reopenings are proceeding more carefully, 72 percent gave the governors received a positive rating. But in the South, where places like Georgia and Florida have reopened despite the objections of Black community leaders, 42 percent view their governors negatively.
Also in the poll, African Americans were asked who they trust more on a 10-point scale. Of a variety of different messengers on information about coronavirus, their doctors and nurses scored 7.85, local hospitals and public health officials followed at 7.24, and Black elected officials was third at 6.96.
Following them was White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci at 6.93. Farther down the list, however, was Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams at 6.35. Clergy and religious leaders only scored 5.76 and President Trump was at the low end of the list at 3.05.
The survey of 604 African Americans was conducted from May 1-7 through online and phone responses. Its margin of error was 3.9 percentage points.
For the latest on the coronavirus, check out BET’s blog on the virus, and contact your local health department or visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
