57 per cent of Republican voters say US coronavirus death tally – now over 176,000 – is ‘acceptable’, poll shows
- Most of those surveyed say US is in better state than it was four years ago, with 82 per cent crediting Trump
- Despite trailing rival Biden in national polls, president continues to enjoy strong support within his party’s ranks
The vast majority of Republican voters approve of the US economy’s state and how the government handled the coronavirus, saying the level of deaths has been “acceptable”, a new poll shows.
Heading into their party’s convention on Monday, 75 per cent of Republicans say the US is in better condition than it was four years ago, with 82 per cent crediting President Donald Trump for that, according to the national survey from CBS News and pollster YouGov released Sunday.
Almost 70 per cent of Republicans said the national economy is “good” and that US handling of the coronavirus is “going well”, with over half – 57 per cent – saying that the number of US 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 Republican ranks, despite the US dipping into a recession, reporting the highest unemployment rate in decades, and continuing to log sizeable new coronavirus cases and deaths.
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 US as better now than four years ago, two-thirds categorise the economy as “bad”, and around the same proportion say the US response to the pandemic is going poorly.
Not to be outdone by Biden, Trump wants to be centre of convention
Nine in 10 Democrats say the level of coronavirus deaths has been unacceptable. Independents split the difference between the parties, with 67 per cent saying deaths have been unacceptably high.
The widest split was on race. When asked about recent attention to discrimination in the US, 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 August 19-21 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
