Washington, DC — On a press call today, Protect Our Care and Public Policy Polling along with Michigan State Rep. Abdullah Hammoud (D-Dearborn, MI) and Dr. Rob Davidson discussed President Trump’s response to the coronavirus crisis in Michigan and how his failures have placed Michiganders’ health and safety at risk ahead of his visit to the state. Protect Our Care also unveil a new survey conducted with Public Policy Polling in Michigan that finds voters in Michigan disapprove of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, trust Governor Whitmer far more, oppose relaxing social distancing and believe Trump deserves blame for the rising death toll and job loss as a result of his botched response.
Key survey findings:
- Governor Whitmer’s net approval rating for her handling of the virus is 26 points better than Trump’s. Whitmer has a +17 approval for it at 55/38, while Trump gets a -9 rating with only 42% approving and 51% disapproving of the job he’s doing handling the virus.
- On the head to head question of who voters trust more to protect Michigan from the coronavirus, Whitmer beats out Trump 55-37, including a 56-32 spread with independents.
- By a 10-point margin, voters do not think President Trump is doing enough to protect America from the coronavirus – 42% of voters think he’s doing enough, while 52% do not.
- Only 26% of voters think social distancing measures should be relaxed, with 66% believing that the current policies are correct, including 68% of independent voters.
- Voters say they would choose safety over speed when it comes to reopening the economy. When asked to choose between reopening the economy more quickly, or more safely, just 30% say they would choose to reopen the economy more quickly, while 65% say they would choose to reopen the economy more safely, including 66% of independent voters.
- 60% of voters say that President Trump and his administration deserve a great deal or at least some responsibility for both the number of Americans who have died and the number of jobs lost due to the coronavirus.
- Trump’s overall approval rating in the state is 44/51, and he trails Joe Biden 51-45 in a head to head match up.
“During this crisis, the real leadership has been coming from Governor Gretchen Whitmer. It’s evident Trump is much more concerned with campaigning than ensuring Americans are protected and have the resources they need to get through the COVID-19 pandemic,” said State Rep. Abdullah Hammoud. “Despite being in the middle of a global pandemic, he continues to do everything possible to undermine the Affordable Care Act and limit access to the quality, affordable health care it provides.”
“Doctors don’t need polls to tell us what we know to be true: President Trump has failed all of us,” said Dr. Rob Davidson. “President Trump called health care workers warriors running into death like soldiers running into bullets on the battlefield. Well, we don’t want to be warriors battling against this virus, and if he thinks we are his warriors, he needs to give us the armor we need to make sure we are not unnecessarily dying in his war. Give us the PPE we need, give us the tests we need so we can effectively manage this virus and get America open safely again.”
“Poll after poll shows that voters in Michigan and across the country have lost trust in Donald Trump’s ability to lead them through this crisis,” said Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse. “Americans want clear and consistent leadership to keep them safe, but this president continues to put people in danger by downplaying the need for testing, ignoring the advice of experts and trying to rip health care from millions of Americans when they need it most. Americans overwhelmingly support continuing social distancing and they don’t trust his efforts to rush the reopening of the economy without proper safety measures in place. It’s no wonder voters in Michigan reject Trump’s leadership and blame the rising death toll and unemployment on his systematic failure to get America through this crisis.”
“The results of the poll clearly show that Michigan voters are much more on board with Governor Whitmer’s approach to the virus than Donald Trump’s,” said Jim Williams with Public Policy Polling. “As a consequence, we see Joe Biden leading Donald Trump in Michigan.”