This poll is a part of the CBS/YouGov Poll partnership and was originally cited in the CBS News article “Americans see months-long pandemic fight ahead.”
About two-thirds of Americans (66%) say President Donald Trump was not prepared to handle the COVID-19 pandemic as it began to sweep the United States—but most people (54%) are optimistic that his administration will be able to handle the outbreak, even if they don’t trust Trump to give them accurate information (56%).
The latest CBS/YouGov Poll indicates that most Americans trust medical and health professionals (88%) to give them accurate information on the rapidly spreading coronavirus, as well as the Centers for Disease Control (82%). Americans are significantly more likely to trust their state governor (66%) over Trump (44%), but they trust friends and family (73%) more each of those government officials.
Democrats and Republicans are similarly likely to trust medical and health professionals (92% vs. 90%) and the Centers for Disease Control (87% vs. 84%).
There are some significant partisan splits on whether Americans trust Trump for their COVID-19 information. Nine in 10 Republicans (90%) trust the president to give them accurate information about the outbreak, compared to 14 percent of Democrats and 43 percent of Independents.
About three in five (61%) Americans between 18 and 29-years-old say they don't trust Trump to give them accurate information, but about half (51%) of Americans over 65 years old do trust the president.
Republicans are more likely (81%) than Democrats (72%) to trust friends and family for information on the coronavirus. On the other hand, Democrats are more likely (75%) than Republicans to trust their state governor (65%) for facts about the virus. Americans overall are the least likely to trust social media and online sources (77%) for accurate details on the COVID-19 outbreak.
See the toplines and crosstabs from this week’s CBS/YouGov Poll
Related: Americans want Obamacare expanded, not repealed
Methodology: This CBS News survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 2,190 US residents interviewed between March 21-23, 2020. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 presidential vote and registration status. The margin of error is +/- 2.3 points.
Image: Getty
