Governors Rated Highest for Conveying Clear COVID-19 Plan

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans continue to rate their own governors more positively for communicating a clear plan of action in response to the coronavirus than they do other political leaders or the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). While 51% of U.S. adults agree that their state's governor has conveyed such information, 46% say the same of President-elect Joe Biden, 33% of President Donald Trump and 31% of the CDC.

	Your state governor	Joe Biden	Donald Trump	The CDC
	%	%	%	%
5 "Strongly agree"	27	25	23	11
4	24	21	10	20
3	18	18	6	35
2	9	10	5	16
1 "Strongly disagree"	21	25	56	18
GALLUP PANEL, Nov. 16-29, 2020

Gallup asks respondents to indicate on a five-point numerical scale whether they agree that each of the key COVID-19 leaders has communicated a clear plan of action in response to the coronavirus. Agreement is signified by the combined percentages scoring their agreement at the highest level -- a 4 or 5 on the scale.

These findings, from Gallup's ongoing COVID-19 probability-based online tracking survey, conducted Nov. 16-29, are the latest in this trend, which was first asked in early June. Biden was added to the list in October.

Ratings of Governors and Trump More Stable Than CDC

Since June, the public's positive views of their governors (between 50% and 56%) and Trump (between 28% and 35%) have been fairly stable, while views of the CDC have been slightly more variable, ranging from 25% to 36%. Governors have been consistently rated higher for instilling confidence in Americans that they have a clear coronavirus response plan.

Partisans Differ on Views of Leaders, Less So on CDC

Partisans hold sharply different views of whether the president and president-elect have communicated a clear plan in response to the pandemic. Identical percentages (82%) of Republicans and Democrats agree that Trump and Biden, respectively, have conveyed such a plan. At the same time, 99% of Democrats say Trump has not, and 77% of Republicans say Biden has not. Independents are divided on whether Biden has communicated a clear action plan, but a majority say Trump has not.

Ratings of the CDC's communication of a plan are more uniform among partisans. They are also lower than the political leaders -- 37% of Republicans and 28% of Democrats and independents rate the agency positively.

	Total agree 4, 5	Neutral 3	Total disagree 1, 2
	%	%	%
Joe Biden
Democrat	82	13	5
Independent	34	28	37
Republican	9	15	77
President Donald Trump
Democrat	<1	<1	99
Independent	27	11	62
Republican	82	8	10
The CDC
Democrat	28	36	36
Independent	28	35	36
Republican	37	35	29
GALLUP PANEL, Nov. 16-29, 2020

Democratic Governors Rated Better Than Republicans

Governors in the U.S. are about evenly split between the two parties. Since mid-June, Democratic governors have been more positively rated than Republican governors for their coronavirus response by margins of eight to 20 percentage points. The latest readings show a 16-point gap.

Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to rate the response of governors from their own party positively. That is, 84% of Democrats think their Democratic governor has communicated a clear coronavirus plan, while 59% of Republicans say the same of Republican governors. Independents rate Democratic governors better than Republican governors, 51% vs. 40%, respectively.

Governors enjoy more cross-over support from partisans for their performance than do Trump and Biden. About three in ten Republicans and Democrats with governors of the opposing party say they have conveyed a clear plan.

	Total agree 4,5	Neutral 3	Total disagree 1,2
	%	%	%
Republican governor
Democrat	32	18	50
Independent	40	24	35
Republican	59	22	19
Democratic governor
Democrat	84	11	6
Independent	51	24	24
Republican	31	20	49
GALLUP PANEL, Nov. 16-29, 2020

Bottom Line

Americans remain more likely to say governors have communicated a clear COVID-19 response plan than they are to say the same about the current president, the president-elect or the CDC. This is generally consistent with Americans' higher level of trust in state government than in federal government. Also, throughout the pandemic, public health directives and decisions have primarily been made at the state level with some guidance from the national level.

As the vaccine rollout begins, national and state authorities will have to coordinate to distribute them to the American public. Trump administration officials are overseeing the initial deliveries of the vaccine. Biden has formed his administration's coronavirus response team and detailed his plans.

Learn more about how the Gallup Panel works.