April 13, 2020 01:21 PM UTC

Poll Shows 30%+ Gap In Trump, Polis COVID-19 Approval

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• by: Colorado Pols

MSN reports the results of a (full disclosure) Microsoft News poll:

As COVID-19 cases continue to increase across the United States, state governors must assess the situation and make decisions on stay-at-home orders, business closures and rally services to respond to health care needs.

Americans’ views on how their state governors are handling the coronavirus crisis vary widely, but on average governors are receiving significantly higher ratings than President Trump for his response, according to Microsoft News sentiment polling. [Pols emphasis]

Microsoft News asked Americans this week how they felt about the way their governors, as well as President Trump, responded to the crisis.

Governors received favorable ratings of 72% on average, compared to 45% for President Trump.

Gov. Jared Polis beats the average with 75% of Coloradans approving of Polis’ handling of the crisis–compared to President Donald Trump’s 43% approval in Colorado, near where he’s been stuck for most of his presidency. Faithful Republican states predictably give Trump and GOP governors higher marks, but in Florida, GOP Rick DeSantis is struggling for public support at 53% with Trump at only 45%. Nuanced results like these tell us that the public, or at least the sample of the public in this poll, understands keenly what’s been necessary to confront this crisis–and who has and has not served the public interest when it was needed most.

As we all struggle to understand what the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic means for the upcoming 2020 elections, this is a much-needed data point. We’ll be watching for and Republicans will be dreading corroborative results.