More proof Trump’s coronavirus handling is hurting him politically

WASHINGTON POST

Over the past two months, former vice president Joe Biden’s lead over President Trump in the RealClearPolitics average of national polling of the upcoming presidential contest has nearly doubled. It’s a period that has overlapped with a number of major shifts in the country and in the national mood, including the ongoing — and now resurging — coronavirus pandemic and widespread protests focused on racial equality. So it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to assume that perhaps those two things are correlated.

President Trump steps off Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House after his June campaign rally in Tulsa. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

New data from the Pew Research Center bolsters the idea that Trump’s position in the polls is worsening as a function of what’s happening in the country. Specifically, it seems likely that the pandemic is pushing his approval ratings lower, which, in turn, is making his position in the presidential contest more precarious.

There are two changes since April that hint at this change in an obvious way. The most obvious is that Pew has Biden’s lead over Trump improving from two points that month to 10 now. Biden is now supported by 54 percent of the country, according to Pew, compared with Trump’s 44 percent.
At the same time, satisfaction with the direction of the country has collapsed. That month, 31 percent felt satisfied with how things are going in the country compared with 68 percent who said they were dissatisfied, a net minus-37 view of the nation. That gap has grown to minus-75 points, thanks largely to a collapse in satisfaction among Republicans. Only about a fifth of Republicans still express satisfaction about how things are going.