Majority think Trump ‘could have avoided infection’ – poll

An opinion poll in the US has found that well over half (65%) of those who responded believe President Trump could have avoided infection if he had taken coronavirus more seriously.

The Ipsos/Reuters poll, which gathered responses from 1,005 US adults, including 596 likely voters, over the previous two days, also found that more than half (55%) did not believe the president was telling the truth about the virus – and only 34% believed he was.

Of those polled, 57% of Americans said they disapproved of Trump’s response to the pandemic overall, up about 3 percentage points from a poll that ran late last week.

They also appear to be largely supportive of curtailing the 2020 presidential race to ensure safety, with 67% in favour of stopping in-person campaign rallies and 59% maintaining that presidential debates should be postponed until Trump recovers.

Among those adults who are expected to cast ballots on 3 November, the poll found that 51% were backing Democratic candidate Joe Biden, while 41% said they were voting for Trump – the remaining 8% were either voting for a third party or undecided.

Only about 61% of voting-age Americans actually voted in the 2016 election.

Source: bbc.com