Poll Shows Americans Trust Dr. Anthony Fauci And Andrew Cuomo On Coronavirus, Distrust Donald Trump

A new poll shows that Americans trust White House expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo when providing updates on the coronavirus — and distrust President Donald Trump.

The poll from NBC News/Wall Street Journal showed that Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is the most trusted when delivering updates on the spread of the coronavirus and what the federal government is doing to respond. Close to 60 percent of Americans polled said they trusted Fauci, while only 8 percent said they did not trust his public statements.

Cuomo, who provides daily updates on New York state’s response to the virus that are regularly covered live on cable news networks, was trusted by 46 percent of respondents, with 17 percent saying they did not trust him.

Trump did not score as well, with a majority of Americans saying they did not trust what he was telling them on the coronavirus crisis. A total of 52 percent said they did not trust Trump, with 36 percent saying they trusted him.

The poll also found that Trump’s likely opponent in November has much a smaller influence when it comes to the coronavirus. Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was trusted by 26 percent of poll respondents, while another 29 percent said they did not trust him. Close to half — 45 percent in total — said they did not have an opinion on Biden, who has offered some public statements on his approach to the coronavirus but has not appeared as regularly as Trump, Fauci, and Cuomo have.

However, the poll did find that Biden was leading Trump in a hypothetical election matchup, with 49 percent saying they backed Biden compared to 42 percent for Trump.

This is not the first poll to show high confidence in Fauci. As the New York Post reported, Fauci has seen very high approval ratings in past polling as well, including a Quinnipiac University survey that found he had a 78 percent approval rating among Americans polled and just a 7 percent disapproval rating.

As Quinnipiac University polling analyst Mary Snow noted, Fauci managed to earn high approval even amid a very politically divided climate.

“In a country gripped by crisis and divided by partisanship, public opinion is united when it comes to Dr. Anthony Fauci. Nearly eight in 10 voters give him a resounding thumbs up for the job he’s doing responding to the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.