Fewer Americans giving good grades to government officials’ coronavirus response: Poll

Support for government officials’ response to coronavirus has declined since March, according to a new poll.

A Pew Research Center survey showed Americans’ high marks for federal, state, and local officials has diminished since March. The dipping support is largely attributable to Republican and Republican-leaning respondents surveyed for the poll, according to Pew.

“Currently, 72% of Americans say public health officials such as those at the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] are doing an excellent or good job in response to the coronavirus outbreak (down from 79% in March),” wrote the Pew Research Center on Tuesday. “The share of Republicans who give public health officials positive ratings has fallen 16 percentage points since then, from 84% to 68%, while there has been almost no change among Democrats (75% currently).”

Similar results were found in respondents’ views of President Trump, state elected officials, and local elected officials.

Support for Mr. Trump’s coronavirus response as excellent or good dipped seven percentage points since March to 41%, driven by a 6% decline among Republicans who viewed the president’s response well and a 7% drop among Democrats.

The share of Americans grading state officials’ coronavirus response as excellent or good has plummeted 8% since March, and 5% fewer Americans grade their local officials’ response this way since March too, according to Pew’s survey.

Despite the diminishing percentage of Americans giving high marks to government officials, approximately 88% of respondents graded the hospitals and medical centers in their area as having an excellent or good response to coronavirus. The survey published Tuesday was the first time Pew has shared results about how respondents view their local hospitals and medical centers.

The Pew Research Center surveyed 10,957 adults from April 29 to May 5 with a 1.4% margin of error. The March survey was conducted from March 19-24.