President Joe Biden continues to see his approval rating decline amid backlash to his administration’s response to a variety of issues.
Now, a poll shows that he is losing support in what had been one of his few remaining areas of strength: the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A trust deficit”
As Townhall reported, the survey shows that a majority of Americans no longer trust Biden to effectively mount the effort to stop the virus.
Pollsters for the Axios/Ipsos poll contacted 1,105 participants between Sept. 24 and 27 and the results come with a 3.2-point margin of error.
More than half — 53% — of respondents said they did not, or at least not very much, trust the Biden administration to provide accurate information about the virus.
Just 45% said they had either “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust in the president.
Axios noted that this is the first time since Biden took office that he “faces a trust deficit” in connection to his COVID-19 response. The most recent poll marked a staggering 13-point decline from his best performance on the issue as recorded in January.
Bipartisan backlash
Pollsters broke the results down further by party affiliation and found that 11% of Republicans and 42% of independents trust Biden’s COVID-19 policy.
While an overwhelming majority of his own party still trusts him, it is worth noting that the 81% of Democrats who said they trust Biden in the latest poll is 11 points lower than where Biden had been earlier this year.
The president came into office with a promise of unifying the country, though his rhetoric regarding COVID-19 has become noticeably bolder in recent weeks. For starters, he implemented a new vaccine mandate earlier this month that will impact private employers with more than 100 workers.
Just this week, the president signaled that additional regulations will be coming soon. He has also attracted criticism for claiming that the nation’s vaccination rate should be as high as 98% before life can return to normal.
Given that the pandemic had been Biden’s best issue, it is hard to imagine a scenario in which his dismal approval rating reverses course — at least in the near term. As Democratic candidates across the nation gear up for next year’s midterm elections, RealClearPolitics reports that the president’s approval is nearly five points underwater in an average of major recent polls.
The post Poll shows majority of Americans no longer trust Biden’s COVID-19 response first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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