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NEW YORK: More Americans have become critical of President Donald Trump in the past month as the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic increases and now follows Democratic challenger Joe Biden by 8 percentage points among registered voters, according to a Reuters / Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday May 12
The poll conducted Monday and Tuesday showed that 41 percent of American adults approved of Trump’s performance in office, which is 4 points below a similar poll conducted in mid-April. 56% disapprove of Trump, 5 more points in the same period.
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It also found that 46 percent of registered voters said they would endorse Biden in the Nov. 3 presidential election, while 38 percent would vote for Trump. That compared to a Biden’s 2-point lead in Reuters / Ipsos polls last week.
READ: ‘Trump Death Clock’ Counts US Avoidable Deaths COVID-19
Americans also appear to be increasingly critical of the way Trump has handled the health crisis. According to the survey, those who disapprove of Trump’s performance at the forefront of the country’s pandemic response outnumber those who approve by 13 percentage points, the highest level of net disapproval since the survey began asking the question earlier in the year. March.
Trump initially downplayed the threat of the virus that has killed more than 80,000 people in the United States, the highest death toll in any country. He has sometimes contradicted disease specialists in his administration, promoted potential treatments that were not found effective, and accused Democratic governors of slowly reopening their states to harm their reelection chances.
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The Republican president has defended the management of the crisis by his administration and has accused China of not alerting the world to the severity and scope of the outbreak, which has affected the economy.
READ: Trump accuses Democrats of reopening U.S. states too slowly
Biden has routinely led Trump among registered voter polls this year. But his leadership had been steadily eroding until this week.
The public sees Trump as the strongest candidate for job creation, while Biden is seen as best suited for health problems. The poll showed that the public was divided over which candidate would be best to deal with the coronavirus response.
The Reuters / Ipsos survey was conducted online, in English, across the United States. It collected responses from 1,112 American adults, including 973 who identified themselves as registered voters. It had a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
