Health Institutions Still Rated Best for COVID-19 Response

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When it comes to handling the COVID-19 crisis, Americans continue to give their highest approval ratings to healthcare providers and medical experts. Most (78%) continue to approve of their state government's handling of the crisis, but Americans give much lower ratings on handling the crisis to nationally elected officials such as Congress (48%) and President Trump (49%). Of all the key actors responding to the crisis that Americans were asked about, the news media received the lowest approval (41%) of all.

	April approval	March approval	Change
	%	%	pct. pts.
Hospitals in your local area	93	*	*
U.S. hospitals	92	88	+4
Your employer^	89	82	+7
Your child's school or daycare†	87	83	+4
Dr. Anthony Fauci	79	*	*
Government health agencies	78	80	-2
Your state government	78	82	-4
New York governor, Andrew Cuomo	67	*	*
Vice President Mike Pence	56	61	-5
President Donald Trump	50	60	-10
Congress	48	59	-11
The news media	41	44	-3
† Based on 263 parents of children under age 18 ^ Based on 594 employed adults * Not asked in March
Gallup

The April 14-28 poll also finds employed Americans expressing high (89%) approval of how their employer is handling the response to the COVID-19 crisis. This is notable as most employers have had to make extraordinary changes to the way they do business and manage their employees. Additionally, three in 10 Americans now report they have experienced pay reductions or job loss.

Nearly eight in 10 Americans also approve of their state government's handling of the crisis, a measure of confidence consistent with American's relative trust in having state officials, such as governors, make economic decisions or doing "the right thing for the economy."

Since Gallup last asked Americans to rate leaders handling of the coronavirus situation in March, approval ratings for both President Trump (-10 points) and Congress (-11 points) have declined the most. Most interviews for this poll predate the backlash that ensued after the president suggested that injections of cleaning chemicals could fight the virus.

Deep Partisan Divide on Media

Americans' views of the leading medical institutions and officials responding to the coronavirus are largely devoid of partisanship. The media, on the other hand, shows stark and persistent differences, with 68% of Democrats approving of how it is handling the crisis versus 16% of Republicans. Forty-one percent of independents approve, placing them squarely between the two partisan groups.

	All Americans	Republicans	Independents	Democrats
	%	%	%	%
Hospitals in your local area	93	96	91	93
U.S. hospitals	92	93	91	92
Your employer	89	93	89	85
Your child's school or daycare	87	85	86	92
Dr. Anthony Fauci	79	71	79	88
Government health agencies	78	76	80	78
Your state government	78	71	77	85
New York governor, Andrew Cuomo	67	47	67	87
Vice President Mike Pence	56	91	56	21
President Donald Trump	50	91	50	11
Congress	48	40	51	53
The news media	41	16	41	68
Gallup, April 14-28, 2020

The 52 percentage-point gap in Republicans' and Democrats' approval of the media on the coronavirus nearly matched the 54-point party gap in trust in the news media, generally, from a September 2019 poll. There have long been partisan divides in media trust, but in recent years they have been larger than in the past. In fact, while most Americans (58%) and the vast majority of Republicans (84%) disapprove of the way the media is handling the crisis, most Democrats (68%) approve.

Despite a noticeable partisan divide on the performance of nationally elected officials in the crisis, most Republicans and Democrats currently applaud the performance by their state government and national public health institutions such as the CDC and NIH.

Bottom Line

The current rank order of leaders' job ratings for handling the coronavirus crisis is similar to what Gallup found in March, only with approval of Trump and Congress sliding a significant amount.

As the coronavirus crisis continues to rattle American society on countless levels, the U.S. public still gives their highest approval ratings to healthcare providers, as well as national public health officials and state government at the forefront of managing the crisis -- and with little partisan disagreement. The news media continues to fare the worst, with nearly six in 10 Americans disapproving of the way they have handled the crisis.

View complete question responses and trends (PDF download).

Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.