Forty-nine of 50 governors have better coronavirus poll numbers than Trump

President recently tweeted that any official’s Covid-19 approval rating was down to ‘me and the federal government’

Last week, Donald Trump responded to governors’ positive coronavirus poll numbers by citing his own federal government’s help.

“Remember this,” Mr Trump tweeted, “every governor who has sky-high approval on their handling of the coronavirus, and I am happy for them all, could in no way have gotten those numbers, or had that success, without me and the Federal Government’s help.”

Americans, though, don’t seem to be crediting Mr Trump nearly as much as he would like.

New polling data from SurveyMonkey show that fully 49 of 50 governors have significantly higher approval ratings for their coronavirus responses than Mr Trump does in recent polls. A Post-Ipsos poll last week showed 43 per cent of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the outbreak.

The one governor on Mr Trump’s level is Georgia Republican governor Brian Kemp, whose efforts to reopen his state have proved controversial. In the Post-Ipsos poll, Mr Kemp’s approval rating was 39 per cent; in the new one, it’s a similar 43 per cent – the same as Mr Trump’s.

The one governor on Mr Trump’s level is Georgia Republican governor Brian Kemp (Aaron Blake/The Washington Post)

Apart from Mr Kemp, the governor closest to Trump is Hawaii Democratic governor David Ige, at 54 per cent. No other governor falls below half of their constituents supporting their response.

The data show Democratic governors with an average coronavirus approval rating of 70 per cent, while Republican governors are lower, at 63 per cent.

But interestingly, most of the highest and lowest approval ratings belong to Republicans.

Among the highest are a trio of moderate Republicans who have distanced themselves from Trump – Maryland governor Larry Hogan at 85 per cent, Vermont governor Phil Scott at 82 per cent, and Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker at 82 per cent. They occupy three of the top five slots, and six of the top seven are Republicans.

On the other end of the scale, though, are many of their fellow GOPers. Of the 11 governors with the lowest approval ratings on coronavirus, nine are Republicans.

Along with Mr Kemp, they include Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Texas governor Greg Abbott at 58 per cent. Both governors have pushed forward with among the most aggressive reopening plans.

Also among the 11 at the lowest end are four Republican governors of Midwestern states – Iowa’s Kim Reynolds, South Dakota’s Kristi Noem, Missouri’s Mike Parson and Nebraska’s Pete Ricketts – all at 58 per cent. All were among the latest holdouts on issuing statewide stay-at-home orders or were among the few to never issue them at all.

The only other Democrat to rank among the lowest 11 besides Ige is Wisconsin governor Tony Evers, at 60 per cent.

The Washington Post