Majority of Americans now say they approve of Trump’s handling of coronavirus: poll

The majority of Americans now approve of President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a reversal from just one week prior, according to a new Ipsos/ABC News poll.

Of those surveyed, 55 percent said that they approved of the president’s handling of the situation, while 43 percent said they disapproved. The numbers were basically reversed from one week ago when 54 percent said they disapproved and 43 percent approved.

Trump’s tone and approach to the outbreak has changed in recent weeks, with the president now appearing at daily briefings at the White House with his coronavirus task force. Trump said this week that he knew that COVID-19 was a pandemic before it was labeled as such by the World Health Organization, despite his previous rhetoric downplaying the severity of the virus.

The president has passed two coronavirus stimulus packages that include paid sick leave for certain workers and free coronavirus testing.

Despite the improvement in the approval rating, the public remains strongly partisan.

Nearly 70 percent of Democrats still disapprove of how Trump is dealing with the pandemic, while 92 percent of Republicans approve of how he’s handled the crisis.

There are more than 14,000 confirmed cases of the virus in the U.S. with at least 200 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.