Divided Trust on Coronavirus Information in the U.S.

A majority of Americans have little to no trust in President Donald Trump providing accurate information on the ongoing coronavirus in the country and around the world.

In a poll jointly conducted by NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist, 60 percent of all U.S. adults responded “not very much” or “not at all” when asked whether they trusted the president’s information on the coronavirus. Only 37 percent of Americans responded they had “a good amount” or “a great deal” of confidence in the president.

Predictably, Democrats and Republicans differed in their confidence that Trump would provide accurate information on the coronavirus. While only 8 percent of Democrats had any confidence, 74 percent of Republicans responded that they had confidence in Trump’s information regarding the disease. This corresponded with a separate question in the poll which asked Democrats and Republicans whether they believed the coronavirus was a real threat or blown out of proportion. 76 percent of Democrats responded that they saw the virus as a real threat to their life, while 54 percent of Republicans responded they still believed COVID-19 was blown out of proportion.