Today the Democratic National Committee is releasing the following poll of voters in six battleground states detailing voter attitudes about how Trump’s handling of the coronavirus has negatively impacted the economy. The polling memo is available online here.
Battleground Poll | Trump Losing on COVID-19 & the Economy
On behalf of the Democratic National Committee, Change Research surveyed 1,828 likely voters online in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin June 2-3, 2020. Voters were recruited using a combination of voter-file sampling and Dynamic Online Sampling in order to accurately reflect the electorate. The margin of error as traditionally calculated is ±2.3% for the full sample and larger among subgroups.
Key findings
Battleground voters are increasingly looking for new leadership as Donald Trump continues to demonstrate he does not know how to address, and does not even comprehend, the severity of the health and economic crises facing the country. A 55% majority of voters in these critical states now disapprove of the job he is doing as President.
The majority of battleground voters believe Trump failed to listen to evidence, downplayed the threat of COVID-19, and mishandled the response, costing more lives and economic pain than necessary. Large majorities now rate the economy and unemployment negatively, they remain deeply concerned about the cost of health care and prescription drugs, and many worry about just affording essentials if these conditions continue.
Voters understand Trump’s economic agenda, like his COVID-19 response, prioritizes the wealthy and corporations, and they believe Trump does not comprehend the struggles of most Americans. His performance on every economic measure is negative, along with his handling of COVID-19 and making America respected around the globe.
An electorate in economic despair is turning away from Trump’s corporate agenda
Battleground voters give negative ratings to every economic metric tested in this survey, from the unemployment rate (88% not so good/poor) to the national economy (70%) to the cost of living (66%), and healthcare and prescription drug costs – the #1 issue before the COVID-19 crisis (81%).
One-in-three voters live in a household that lost a job to COVID-19, 46% live in a household that lost wages or income to COVID-19, and 49% express serious concerns about their ability to afford food, housing and essentials if these economic conditions persist.
Trump now receives negative grades for his handling of every economic issue tested in this survey, including ensuring wages keep up with the rising cost of living (58% poor/not so good) helping the middle class (56%), and reducing health care and prescription drug costs (64%). A 56% majority believe that ‘Donald Trump is not doing enough to help working Americans make it through the current economic downturn.’ They say Trump does not ‘understand the economic struggles of everyday Americans’ (56%) and ‘puts the wealthy and corporations first’ (60%).
Trump’s negligence made COVID and the resulting economic crisis worse
Voters believe that Trump failed to listen to evidence, downplayed the threat of COVID-19, and mishandled the response, costing more lives and economic pain than was necessary. Majorities agree with each of the following statements:
- Donald Trump failed to listen to experts and didn’t take the threat of COVID-19 seriously when he should have been taking action to prepare the country — 56% agree;
- Donald Trump made mistakes handling the COVID-19 pandemic that are making the economic pain of the crisis worse — 57% agree;
- Donald Trump is pushing states to reopen their economies too quickly in order to boost his own re-election chances — 55% agree.
In a forced choice, 56% of voters believe that Trump ‘didn’t take the coronavirus threat seriously, and his ineffective response has cost American lives and jobs’ over the claim that he ‘took the coronavirus threat seriously from the start, and his swift and decisive action saved American lives and jobs’ (44%).
Like his economic agenda, voters say Trump’s COVID-19 response paid the most attention to big corporations (83% a lot/some), his own re-election prospects (75%), and wealthy Americans (75%). They give him a failing grade on each of the following:
- Ensuring economic relief goes to those who need it most, rather than the wealthy and well-connected — 58% poor/not so good;
- Ensuring small businesses in my community have the assistance they need to survive the crisis — 56% poor/not so good;
- Ensuring families have the support they need to get through the economic downturn — 56% poor/not so good.
Not only do seniors agree with each of these statements, but a 56% majority believe Trump did not focus on them in a significant way and only 32% say he focused on seniors a lot.
Trump points a finger at China but three are pointing back at him
Donald Trump admitted that he avoided confronting China over their handling of COVID-19 when the disease began to spread because he did not want to jeopardize his trade deal with China. Just 20% of voters say this was a ‘smart move’ and 56% agree ‘Trump was naive to believe China was telling the truth about COVID-19 instead of pressing for more transparency when the disease was discovered.’ A 55% majority also reject his reckless tariffs and trade wars, saying they ‘mostly hurt American workers’ instead of mostly helping them (45%).
Trump may want to think twice about turning 2020 into a debate over who will protect America’s standing in the world, as 58% disapprove of the job he is doing ‘making America respected around the globe’ and 57% say he does not ‘work well with other countries.’
Finally, 58% disagree that ‘the U.S. is better positioned as a global leader today than it was 4 years ago’ with 53% disagreeing strongly.