GOP Voters Say Economy, Covid-19 Response Good in CBS Poll
The vast majority of Republican voters approve of the U.S. economy’s state and how the government handled the coronavirus.
(Bloomberg) -- The vast majority of Republican voters approve of the U.S. economy’s state and how the government handled the coronavirus, and more than half say the level of deaths has been “acceptable,” a new poll shows.
Heading into their party’s convention on Monday, 75% of Republicans say the U.S. is in better condition than it was four years ago, with 82% crediting President Donald Trump for that, according to the national survey from CBS News and pollster YouGov released Sunday.
Among all voters, 25% say America is better off than four years ago, and 65% say it’s not.
Almost 70% of Republicans said the national economy is “good” and that U.S. handling of the coronavirus is “going well.” Over half -- 57% -- say that the number of U.S. deaths from the pandemic, which now number over 175,000, has been “acceptable.” About two-thirds of Republican respondents said the Covid-19 death count is lower than reported.
The results show the support Trump still has within GOP ranks, despite the U.S. dipping into a recession, reporting the highest unemployment rate in decades, and continuing to log sizable new coronavirus cases and deaths.
Trump Support
While most national polls show Democrat Joe Biden leading Trump, the CBS survey is a reminder that much of Trump’s base approves of the current administration, which speaks to voter enthusiasm and potential turnout.
It also showed a deep split between voters of the two parties: only about one-third of Democrats see the U.S. as better now than four years ago, two-thirds categorize the economy as “bad,” and around the same amount say the U.S. response to the pandemic is going poorly.
Nine in 10 Democrats say the level of coronavirus deaths has been unacceptable. Independents split the difference between the parties, with 67% saying deaths have been unacceptably high.
The widest split was on race. When asked about recent attention to discrimination in the U.S., prompted by the brutal police killing of George Floyd and the subsequent nationwide protests, about 8 in 10 Republicans said there was too much attention to the issue, compared to 1 in 10 Democrats. More than half of Democrats thought more attention was needed.
The survey, which included 2,226 registered voters, was conducted Aug. 19-21 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
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