Andrea Mitchell frets over Trump’s rising popularity: Public sees a leader ‘no matter what he says’

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell used Wednesday’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic to mull over reasons why the public approval for President Trump jumps “no matter what he says.”

The network’s anchor suggested to former Obama administration official Jim Messina that Mr. Trump should not be having a spike in approval ratings the more he speaks to the American public.

“We’re also seeing some polls indicating the president’s approval ratings among Democrats and independents skyrocketing to their highest levels yet,” Ms. Mitchell said, NewsBusters reported. “Some 60% approval ratings for the way he’s handling this crisis as he continues to hold these briefings. The briefings are working for the president. No matter what he says, people seem to be seeing him as a leader, at least more people do.”

Mr. Messina noted the pair’s “healthy skepticism on public polling” before predicting a different consensus in the near future.

“The problem President Trump has is he’s made a bunch of promises that have turned out to be wrong on this virus,” Mr. Messina said. “And going forward, once we get really deep into this in the next couple of weeks, the American public’s gonna look back and say, ’What did you say was happen and what actually happened?’”

He added that Mr. Biden now finds himself in a political position where he must “sit there and watch” as everything unfolds.

“He can’t go out and raise money, he can’t kind of consolidate his lead,” Mr. Messina said. “We had to move some of the primaries back. So it’s a challenge for him, too.”