Many world leaders see spike in approvals over coronavirus response. Trump is not one of them

Kerry Eleveld
and
Daily Kos
16 April 2020

Donald Trump managed to squander the brief grace period he had to capitalize on getting a significant bump in approval ratings if Americans would have rallied around his coronavirus response. The several-point bump he got in the second half of March for striking a serious tone has almost dissipated, leaving him anywhere between about 42% and 45% in most polls and continuing to trend downward.

It's pretty pathetic compared to the crisis-era approval bumps of previous presidents, such as the 40-point bump George W. Bush got following 9/11. But Trump's performance is also getting bottom-of-the-barrel marks relative to those of other world leaders confronting the crisis.

MarketWatch highlighted the approval bumps of several of Trump’s peers on the global stage, including those who started out below Trump, even with Trump, and above Trump.

For instance, French president Emmanuel Macron, who was struggling at home, has gotten a 15-point boost to 51% approval.

Germany's Angela Merkel, who was already quite popular, got an 11-point bump to 79% approval.

And in Italy, which has taken a tragic beating by the epidemic, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's approvals started out on par with Trump's at 46% but took a giant leap to 71%.

Trump's approval bump has similarly been eclipsed by blue state governors who have aggressively taken charge of their state’s response to the public health crisis. As the country's epicenter of the outbreak, New York has really been ravaged by an influx of coronavirus cases, yet Gov. Andrew Cuomo's approvals jumped 32 points to 79%.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom's approvals spiked by more than 40 points to 83%.

But not to worry. One of Trump's closest allies among the governors has done such a crap job of guiding his state through the crisis that he's keeping Trump company on the low end. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis managed to actually sink his approvals by 7 points to just 51%—still high by Trump standards, but not quite as gobsmackingly embarrassing for him.

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